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APPLETONS'

POPULAR SCIENCE
MONTHLY

EDITED BY

WILLIAM JAY YOUMANS

VOL. LIV

NOVEMBER, 1 898, TO APRIL, 1 899

NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

1899

3>
Copyright, 1899,

Bt D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.

■■■■■■. ...■'■■■■■■■■■■■.■■.

: . ■ ■■■■■

FRANK WIGGLES WORTH CLARKE.

APPLETONS'

POPULAR SCIENCE
MONTHLY.

NOVEMBER, 1898.

WAS MIDDLE AMEBIC A PEOPLED FROM ASIA?

By Peof. EDWAKD S. MOESE.

THE controversies over the question of the origin of Central
American culture are to be again awakened by the exploration
organized under the direction of the American Museum of Natural
History through the liberality of its president, Morris K. Jesup, Esq.
The plans embrace an ethnographic survey of the races between the
Columbia and Amoor Rivers. Many similarities in customs, folk-
lore, etc., will doubtless be found among these northern races. How
far traces of an ancient avenue will be established through which
came the unique cult of middle America, and for which in a way
the surveys have been instituted, remains to be seen. The ques-
tion is one of perennial interest, and all honor to the scientific spirit
of Mr. Jesup, whose munificence has provided the means for this
work.

It may be of interest to remind those who have only a vague
idea of the contention that there are many earnest scholars who
insist that the wonderful architectural remains in Mexico, Yucatan,
and other regions of the west coast are due to Asiatic contact in
the past. As proofs of this contact are cited similarities as seen in
the monuments, the facial characteristics of certain tribes, ancient
customs, astronomical ideas, serpent worship, certain games, etc.
Particularly is it believed by the scholars that the " land of
Fusang " mentioned in early Chinese historical records is no other
than Mexico or some contiguous country.

Space will not permit even the briefest mention of the evidences
which have led to these conclusions, and the reader is referred to a
remarkably condensed history of the whole question embodied in a

VOL, LIV. — l

2 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

volume by Mr. Edward P. Vining entitled An Inglorious Columbus.
Under this unfortunate title one may find the most painstaking col-
location of the many memoirs written upon this subject, with the
Chinese account of the land of Fusang in Chinese characters, and
appended thereto the various translations of the document by De
Guines, Williams, Julien, and other eminent sinologues.

To the French Orientalist, M. de Guines, we are indebted for
our first knowledge of certain ancient records of the Chinese, which
briefly record the visit of Chinese Buddhist monks to the land
of Fusang in the year 458 of our era, and the return of a single
Buddhist monk from this land in 499. De Guines's memoir appeared
in 1761, and for forty years but little attention was drawn to it.
Humboldt says that, according to the learned researches of Father
Gaubil, it appears doubtful whether the Chinese ever visited the
western coast of America at the time stated by De Guines. In 1831,
Klaproth, the eminent German Orientalist, combated the idea that
Fusang was Mexico, and insisted that it was Japan. In 1844 the
Chevalier de Paravey argued that Fusang should be looked for in
America. Prof. Karl Friedrich Neumann also defended this idea.
In magazine articles in 1850-1862, and finally in book form in 1875,
Mr. C. G. Leland supported with great ingenuity the idea of Chinese
contact based on the Fusang account. In 1862 M. Jose Perez also
defended the idea. In 1865 M. Gustave d'Eichthal published his
memoir on the Buddhistic origin of American civilization, and in
the same year M. Vivien de Saint-Martin combated the theory, and
since that time many others have written upon the subject in favor or
in opposition to the idea of Asiatic contact.

These hasty citations are only a few of the many that I have
drawn from Mr. Vining's encyclopedic compilation.

It is extraordinary what a keen fascination the obscure paths of
regions beyond history and usually beyond verification have to many
minds, and the fascination is as justifiable as the desire to explore
unknown regions of the earth. In the one case, however, we have
a tangled mass of legendary tales coming down from a time when
dragons were supposed to exist, when trees were miles in height,
when people lived to a thousand years, when every unit of measure-
ment was distorted and every physical truth, as we know it to-day,
had no recognition, while in the other case we have at least a con-
tinuity of the same land and sea extending to the unexplored beyond.
This impulse of the human mind finds an attractive problem in the
question as to the origin of the American races. Dr. Brinton has
insisted on the unreasonable nature of the inquiry by asking an
analogous one: " Whence came the African negroes? All will reply,
'From Africa, of course.' 'Originally?' 'Yes, originally; they

WAS MIDDLE AMERICA PEOPLED FROM ASIA? 3

constitute the African or negro subspecies of man.' ' By bringing
together isolated features which have resemblances in common, the
American Indian has been traced to nearly every known stock. Mr.
Henry W. Henshaw, in an admirable address entitled Who are the
American Indians ? says : " If you have special bias or predilection
you have only to choose for yourself. If there be any among you
who decline to find the ancestors of our Indians among the Jews,
Phoenicians, Scandinavians, Irish, "Welsh, Egyptians, or Tartars,
then you still have a choice among the Hindu, Malay, Polynesian,
Chinese, or Japanese, or indeed among almost any other of the chil-
dren of men." Had this address been written a few years later he
might have added Hittite!

There are two propositions involved in the controversy as to the
Asiatic origin of the American race: the one is that America was
peopled from Asia by invasions or migrations in pre-savage or pre-
glacial times; the other is that the peculiar civilization of Central
America was induced by Buddhist monks, who traveled from Asia
to Mexico and Central America in the fifth century of our era.
Those who sustain the first thesis are without exception men trained
in the science of anthropology; those who sustain the second thesis
are with a few conspicuous exceptions travelers, geographers, sino-
logues, missionaries, and the like.

If Asia should ever prove to be the cradle of the human race, or
of any portion of it which had advanced well beyond the creature
known as Pithecanthropus erectus, then unquestionably an Asian
people may be accounted the progenitors of the American Indians.
Any effort, however, to establish an identity at this stage would
probably take us far beyond the origin of speech or the ability to
fabricate an implement.

The controversy has not raged on this ground, however; the
numerous volumes and memoirs on the subject have dealt almost
exclusively with culture contacts or direct invasions from Asia in
our era, and more particularly with the supposed visits of Chinese
Buddhist monks to Mexico and Central America already alluded to.
Believing in the unity of the^ human race, the dispersion of the
species seems more naturally to have occurred along the northern
borders of the great continents rather than across the wide ocean.
From the naturalist's standpoint the avenues have been quite as
open for the circumpolar distribution of man as they have been
for the circumpolar distribution of other animals and plants down
to the minutest land snail and low fungus. The ethnic, resemblances
supposed to exist between the peoples of the two sides of the Pacific
may be the result of an ancient distribution around the northern
regions of the globe. Even to-day social relations are said to exist

4 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

between the peoples of the Mackenzie and the Lena delta, and it is
not improbable that the carrying band of the Ainu in Yeso and a
similar device depicted on ancient codices and stone monuments in
Mexico may have had a common origin. Advancing to a time when
man acquired the art of recording his thoughts, the question of any-
contact between the peoples of the eastern and western shores of the
Pacific, south of latitude 40°, compels us to examine the avenues
which have been so potent in the distribution of life in the past —
namely, the oceanic currents. We are at once led to the great Japan
current, the Kuro Shiwo, which sweeps up by the coast of Japan
and spends its force on the northwest coast of America. Records
show a number of instances of Japanese junks cast ashore on the
Oregon coast and shores to the north.*

It must be evidences of Japanese and not Chinese contact that
we are to look for — tangible evidences, for example, in the form of
relics, methods of burial, etc. That the Japanese bear resemblances
to certain northern people there can be no doubt. Dr. Torell
brought before the Swedish Anthropological Society, some years ago,
the results of a comparative study of Eskimo and Japanese. The
anatomical and ethnographical resemblances appeared so striking to
him as to give additional strength to the theory of the settlement of
America from Asia by way of Bering Strait. That there are cer-
tain resemblances among individuals of different races we have
abundant evidences. At a reception in Philadelphia I introduced a
Japanese commissioner (who had been a Cambridge wrangler) to a
full-blooded Omaha Indian dressed in our costume, and the com-
missioner began a conversation with him in Japanese; nor could he
believe me when I assured him that it was an Indian that he was
addressing, and not one of his own countrymen. I was told by an
attache of the Japanese legation at Washington that after carefully
scrutinizing the features of a gentleman with whom he was travel-
ing he ventured to introduce himself as a fellow-countryman, and
found to his astonishment that the man was a native of the Malay
Peninsula. That the Malays bear a strong resemblance to the
Chinese is quite true. Dr. Baelz, of the Medical College of Japan,
can find no differences between the crania and pelves of the Chinese
and Malays. Wallace assures us that even the Malay of Java, when

* Mr. Charles Walcott Brooks presented to the California Academy of Sciences a report
of Japanese vessels wrecked on the North Pacific Ocean in which many instances are given.
He says : " Every junk found stranded on the coast of North America or on the Hawaiian
or adjacent islands has, on examination, proved to be Japanese, and no single instance of a
Chinese vessel has ever been reported, nor is any believed to have existed. . . . There also
exists an ocean stream of cold water emerging from the Arctic Ocean which sets close in
along the eastern coast of Asia. This fully accounts for the absence of Chinese junks on
the Pacific, as vessels disabled off their coast would naturally drift southward."

WAS MIDDLE AMERICA PEOPLED FROM ASIA? 5

dressed as a Chinese, is not to be distinguished from them, and
Peschel classifies the Malays with the Mongoloid people. In these
approximate regions one might expect close intermixtures. If re-
semblances are established between the Japanese and the Eskimo,
they would probably have arisen from a circumpolar race which has
left its traces on northern peoples the world around. We turn
naturally to Japan as the region from which a migration might rea-
sonably have been supposed to take place. Its position on the Asiatic
coast with a series of larger and smaller stepping-stones — the Kuriles
— to Kamchatka, and thence across the strait to America and sea-
ward, the broad and powerful Japanese current sweeping by its
coast and across the Pacific, arrested only by the northwestern coast
of America. With these various avenues of approach one might
certainly expect evidences of contact in past times. A somewhat
extended study in Japan of its prehistoric and early historic remains
in the way of shell-heap pottery from the north to the south, much
of it of an exceedingly curious character; the later stone imple-
ments, many of them of the most extraordinary types; the bronze
mirrors, swords, spear points, and the so-called bronze bells ; the wide
distribution of a curious comma-shaped ornament of stone known
as the magatama, with a number of varieties, and many other kinds
of objects, leads me to say that no counterpart or even remote paral-
lelism has been found in the western hemisphere. Certain rude
forms of decoration of the northern shell-heap pottery of Japan,
such as the cord-mark and crenulated fillet, are world-wide in their
distribution, and a similar wide dispersal is seen of the rude stone im-
plements and notched and barbed bone and horn. Here, however,
the similarity ends. The lathe-turned unglazed mortuary vessels so
common in ancient graves in Japan and Korea have equally no coun-
terpart on our western coast. If now we examine the early records
of Japan in her two famous works — the Kojiki and Nikon ji, which
contain rituals, ceremonies, and historical data going back with con-
siderable accuracy to the third and fourth centuries of our era — we
shall find many curious details of customs and arts and references
to objects which have since been exhumed from burial mounds, yet
we look in vain for a similar cult in Mexico or Central America.
Turning aside from Japan as an impossible ground in which to trace
resemblances, we glance at the unique character of the ancient pot-
tery of Central America, with its representations of natural forms,
such as fishes, turtles, frogs, shells, etc., its peculiar motives of decora-^
tion in color, and find no counterpart in Asia. The pyramidal rock
structure and rounded burial mounds are supposed to have their
counterparts in the East, but the pyramidal form is common in
various parts of the world, simply because it is the most economical

6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

and most enduring type of architecture, and facilitates by its form
the erection of the highest stone structures. The rounding dome
of an earth mound and the angular side of a rock pyramid are the
result of material only.

If we now turn to China as a possible region from which migra-
tions may have come in the past, we have only to study the historical
records of that ancient people to realize how hopeless it is to estab-
lish any relationship. Let one study the Ceremonial Usages of the
Chinese (1121 b. c. — translated by Gingell), and he will then ap-
preciate the wonderful advancement of the Chinese at that early
date — the organized government, the arts, customs, manufactures,
and the minute observances and regulations concerning every detail
of life. With these records before him he may search in vain for
the direct introduction of any art or device described in this old
Chinese work. A few similarities are certainly found between the
East and the West, but these arise from the identity in man's mental
and physical structure. With two legs only, for example, it is found
difficult to sit on a seat comfortably in more than a few ways. One
may sit with both legs down, with one leg under, with legs crossed
a la Turk, or the unconventional way throughout the world with one
leg over the other at various angles. It would seem with this limited
number of adjustments that any similarities in the attitude of cer-
tain stone statues in America and Asia could have but little weight.
Prof. F. W. Putnam believes that he has established an Asiatic
origin of certain jade ornaments found in Central America. If this
conclusion could be sustained, we should then have evidences of con-
tact with an Asiatic people in the stone age, which in itself was one
of great antiquity for the Chinese, and one long antedating the origin
of Buddhism. In the Chinese work above alluded to the whetstone
is mentioned for sharpening swords, and the craft employed in pol-
ishing the musical stone. Confucius also. refers to the musical stone
in his Analects. This is as near as we get to the use of stone eleven
hundred years before Christ. It is to the merit of Putnam to have
first called attention to the fact that many of the jade ornaments,
amulets, etc., of Central America had originally been portions of
jade celts. The discovery is one of importance, whatever explanation
may be reached as to the origin of the stone. In Costa Rica these
celt-derived ornaments have been cut from celts composed of the
native rock, and it would seem that these old implements handed
down in the family led to their being preserved in the form of beads,
amulets, etc., much in the same spirit that animates us to-day in
making paper-cutters, penholders, and the like from wood of the
Charter Oak, frigate Constitution, and other venerated relics.
Among other evidences of contact the existence of the Chinese calen-

WAS MIDDLE AMERICA PEOPLED FROM ASIA? 7

dar in Mexico is cited. Dr. Brinton shows, however, that the Mexi-
can calendar is an indigenous production, and has no relation to the
calendar of the Chinese. In a similar way the Mexican game of
patolli is correlated with the East Indian game of parchesi by Dr.
E. B. Tylor. Dr. Stewart Culin, who has made a profound study
of the games of the world, and Mr. Frank Hamilton Cushing, the
distinguished student of the ethnology of southern North America,
are both convinced that this game had an independent origin in
various parts of the world. Mexican divisions of time marked by
five colors are recognized as being allied to a similar device in China.
The application of colors to the meaning of certain ideographs is
common in other parts of the world as well. It is important to
remark that the colors named include nearly the whole category as
selected by barbarous people, and in the use of colors in this way
it would be difficult to avoid similarities.

The evidences of contact in early times must be settled by the
comparison of early relics of the two shores of the Pacific. Resem-
blances there are, and none will dispute them, but that they are for-
tuitous and have no value in the discussion is unquestionable. As
illustrations of these fortuitous resemblances may be cited a tazza
from the United States of Colombia having a high support with tri-
angular perforations identical in form with that of a similar object
found among the mortuary vessels of Korea, and Greece as well. A
curious, three-lobed knob of a pot rim, so common in the shell
mounds of Omori, Japan, has its exact counterpart in the shell
mounds of the upper Amazon. In the Omori pottery a peculiar cur-
tain-shaped decoration on a special form of jar has its exact parallel in
the ancient pottery of Porto Rico. These instances might be multi-
plied, but such coincidences as are often seen in the identity of cer-
tain words are familiar to all students. The account of the land of
Fusang appears in the records of the Liang dynasty contained in the
Nanshi, or History of the South, written by Li Yen-Shau, who lived
in the beginning of the seventh century. It purports to have been
told by a monk who returned from the land of Fusang in 499 of
our era. This hypothetical region has been believed to be Japan,
Saghalin, and Mexico. The record is filled with fabulous state-
ments of impossible animals, trees of impossible dimensions, and is so
utterly beyond credence in many ways that it should have no weight
as evidence. If it had any foundation in fact, then one might infer
that some traveler had entered Saghalin from the north, had crossed
to Yeso and Japan, and found his way back to China. His own
recollections, supplemented by stories told him by others, would form
the substance of his account. The record is brief, but any one
familiar with Japan as Klaproth was is persuaded with him that the

8 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

account refers to Japan and adjacent regions. The twenty thousand
li the monk is said to have traveled may parallel his mulberry trees
several thousand feet high and his silkworms seven feet long. In a
more remote Chinese record, as mentioned by Dr. Gustave Schlegel,
the statement is made that the inhabitants had to dig down ten thou-
sand feet to obtain blue tenacious clay for roofing tiles! A number
of ardent writers convinced that signs of Chinese contact are seen in
the relics of middle America have seized upon this account of Fusang
in support of this belief. These convictions have arisen by finding it
difficult to believe that the ancient civilizations of Mexico and Peru
could have been indigenous. In seeking for an exterior origin in
the Fusang account overweight has been credited to every possible
resemblance, and all discrepancies have been ignored.

The fabulous account of the land of Fusang evidently supplied
documentary evidence, and Mexico was conceived to be the mythical
Fusang. Mr. Yining goes so far as to declare that " some time in the
past the nations of Mexico, Yucatan, and Central America were
powerfully affected by the introduction of Asiatic arts, customs, and
religious belief." To establish the details in the Chinese account
the entire western hemisphere is laid under contribution: now it
is the buffalo of North America, then the llama of Peru, the reindeer
of the arctic, or some native word. These writers do not hesitate to
bring to life animals that became extinct in the upper Tertiaries, and
to account for the absence of others by supposing them to have
become extinct. Literal statements of horses dragging wheeled ve-
hicles are interpreted as an allusion in Buddhist cult which refers by
metaphor to attributes and not to actual objects. As an illustration
of the wild way in which some of these resemblances are established,
Mr. Yining quotes the account of M. Jose Perez (Revue Orientate et
Americaine, vol. viii). Perez reminds us that the inhabitants of the
New World gave Old World names to places in the new continent,
citing New York, New Orleans, and New Brunswick as examples, and
then says that at some remote epoch the Asiatics had given to the
cities of the New World the same names as the cities of their mother
country; so the name of the famous Japanese city Ohosaka (Osaka),
to the west of the Pacific, became Oaxaca in Mexico on the eastern
side. Now it is well known that the ancient name of Osaka was
Namihawa; this became corrupted into Naniwa, and not till 1492
does the name Osaka appear. Rev. J. Summers gives a full ac-
count of these successive names with their meanings (Transac-
tions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. vii, part iv). The real
question to be answered is not what might have been accomplished
by ancient explorers from Asia, but what was accomplished. It
is shown that Chinese Buddhist priests went to India in the years

WAS MIDDLE AMERICA PEOPLED FROM ASIA? 9

1

3S8, 399, 629, and so on, and the question is asked, Why may
they not have reached Mexico on the east? Migration on paral-
lels of latitude with no intervening ocean is one matter; to go from
latitude 30° on one side of the Pacific almost to the Arctic Ocean,
and down on the other side nearly to the equator, is quite another
exploit. It is assumed that five priests had gone to Mexico in 468
a. d., and there ingrafted Buddhistic cult on the races with whom
they came in contact. It is simply beyond reason to believe that the
introduction of Buddhism into Mexico antedated by half a century
its introduction into Japan. Communication between Korea and
Japan has been from the earliest times one without effort or peril:
in the one case a trip of a day or more, in the other case a journey
of unnumbered thousands of miles through perilous seas, across
stormy fiords and raging waters, including arctic and tropical
climates and contact with multitudinous savage hordes. Those who
hold that Mexico and Central America were powerfully affected by
Asiatic contact must be called upon to explain the absence of cer-
tain Asiatic arts and customs which would have been introduced by
any contact of sufficient magnitude to leave its impress so strongly
in other directions. A savage people takes but little from a civilized
people save its diseases, gunpowder, and rum. The contact of bar-
barous with civilized people results in an interchange of many useful
objects and ideas, but these introductions must be through repeated
invasions and by considerable numbers. Peschel, while believing in
the Asiatic origin of the American race, would place the time far
back in the savage state. He repudiates the Fusang idea, and ex-
presses his belief that " a high state of civilization can not be trans-
mitted by a few individuals, and that the progress in culture takes
place in dense populations and by means of a division of labor which
fits each individual into a highly complex but most effective organi-
zation," and then insists that " the phenomena of American civili-
zation originated independently and spontaneously"; and Keane
shows how interesting the social, religious, and political institutions
of America become when " once severed from the fictitious Asiatic
connection and influences." That the savage derives little or derives
slowly from contact with a superior race is seen in the fact that he
still remains savage. Thus the Ainu, a low, savage people, though
they have been in contact with the Japanese for nearly two thou-
sand years, have never acquired the more powerful Mongolian arrow
release, while the Persians, though Aryan, yet early acquired this
release from their Mongolian neighbors. The Scandinavians, who
in prehistoric times practiced the primary release, yet later acquired
the more efficient Mediterranean method. Let us for a moment con-
sider what would have occurred as a result of an Asiatic contact with

io POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

a people advanced enough to have been powerfully affected in their
" arts, customs, and religious belief." It seems reasonable to believe
that traces of a Mongolian release would be found in Central
America, the more so as a warlike people would eagerly seize upon a
more powerful method of pulling the bow, yet no trace of a stone or
metal thumb ring has ever been found in the western hemisphere.
Ancient Mexican codices, while depicting the archer, reveal no
trace of the Mongolian method. In the Old World this release crept
westward as a result of the migration of, or contact with, Asiatic
tribes, and metal thumb rings are dug up on the Mediterranean lit-
toral. While the arrow release of China might not have effected a
lodgment in America, the terra-cotta roofing tile certainly would.
This important device, according to Schlegel, was probably known
in China 2200 b. o., in Korea 500 b. c, and in Japan in the early
years of our era. In the ancient records of Japan reference is made
to " breaking a hole in the roof tiles of the hall," etc., and green-
glazed tiles are dug up on the sites of ancient temples in Japan. The
fragments are not only unmistakable but indestructible. I have
shown elsewhere * that the primitive roofing tile crept into Europe
from the East, distributing itself along both shores of the Mediter-
ranean, and extending north to latitude 44°. Graeber finds its
earliest use in the temple of Hira in Olympia, 1000 b. c. The ancient
Greeks had no knowledge of the roofing tile. Among the thousands
of fragments and multitudinous articles of pottery found by Schlie-
mann in the ruins of Ilios, not a trace of the roofing tile was dis-
covered. One is forced to believe that so useful an object, and one
so easily made, would have been immediately adopted by a people so
skillful in the making of pottery as the ancient Mexicans. Certainly
these people and those of contiguous countries were equal to the
ancient Greeks in the variety of their fictile products. Huge jars,
whistles, masks, men in armor, curious pots of an infinite variety
attest to their skill as potters, yet the western hemisphere has not
revealed a single fragment of a pre-Columbian roofing tile. Vi-
ning, in his work, cites an observation of the Rev. W. Lobseheid, the
author of a Chinese grammar. In crossing the Isthmus of Panama
this writer was much struck with the similarities to China ; " the
principal edifices on elevated ground and the roofing tiles identical
to those of China." The roofing tile is indeed identical with that of
China. It is the form that I have elsewhere defined as the normal
or Asiatic tile, but it reached America for the first time by way
of the Mediterranean and Spain, and thence with the Spaniards
across the Atlantic, where it immediately gained a footing, and

* On the Older Forms of Terra-Cotta Roofing Tiles. Essex Institute Bulletin, 1882.

WAS MIDDLE AMEBIC A PEOPLED FROM ASIA? 11

rapidly spread through South America and along the west coast
north, as may be seen in the old mission buildings in California.

In China, Korea, and Japan the sandal has a bifurcated toe cord,
the base of which, springing from the front of the sandal, passes
between the first and second toes. It belongs to the Old World
through its entire extent. It is the only form represented in ancient
Egyptian, Assyrian, and Greek sculpture. One would have expected
that with any close contact with Asian people this method of holding
the sandal to the foot would have been established in Central Amer-
ica, yet one may seek in vain for the evidences of even a sporadic
introduction of this method. Where representations are given in
the sculptured stone pottery, or codex, the sandal is represented
with two cords, one passing between the first and second and the
other between the third and fourth toes. Dr. Otis T. Mason, who
has given us an exhaustive monograph of the foot gear of the world,
says that every authority on Mexico and Central America pictures
the sandal with two cords, and he further says, in a general article
on the same subject, " An examination of any collection of pottery
of middle America reveals the fact at once, if the human foot is por-
trayed, that the single toe string was not anciently known."

The Thibetans, Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese have used the
serviceable carrying stick from time immemorial. The nearest ap-
proach to this method in this country is seen in Guadalajara, where
a shoulder piece is used to carry jars. The representation of this
method shows that the pole rests across the back in such a manner
that the load is steadied by both the right and left hand simultane-
ously — identical, in fact, with methods in vogue to-day through
western Europe. We find, however, the northern races, as the Ainu
and Kamchadels, use the head band in carrying loads, and this
method has been depicted in ancient American sculpture. The car-
rying stick, so peculiarly Asiatic, according to Dr. Mason, is not met
with on this continent.

With the evidences of Asiatic contact supposed to be so strong in
Central America, one might have imagined that so useful a device as
the simple chopsticks would have secured a footing. These two
sticks, held in one hand and known in China as " hasteners or nimble
lads," are certainly the most useful, the most economical, and the
most efficient device for their purposes ever invented by man.
Throughout that vast Asian region, embracing a population of five
hundred million, the chopstick is used as a substitute for fork, tongs,
and certain forms of tweezers. Even fish, omelet, and cake are sepa-
rated with the chopsticks, and the cook, the street scavenger, and the
watch repairer use this device in the form of iron, long bamboo, and
delicate ivory. The bamboo chopstick was known in China 1000

12 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

b. a, and shortly after this date the ivory form was devised. Their
use is one of great antiquity in Japan, as attested by references to it
in the ancient records of that country. One may search in vain for
the trace of any object in the nature of a chopstick in Central or
South America. Knitting needles of wood are found in the work '
baskets associated with ancient Peruvian mummies, but the chop-
stick has not been found. Curious pottery rests for the chopsticks
are exhumed in Japan, but even this enduring testimony of its early
use is yet to be revealed in this country.

The plow in all its varieties has existed in China for countless
centuries. Its ideograph is written in a score of ways. It was early
introduced into Korea and Japan, and spread westward through the
Old World to Scandinavia. There it has been found in the peat
bogs. It is figured on ancient Egyptian monuments, yet it made its
appearance in the New World only with the advent of the Spaniards.
This indispensable implement of agriculture when once introduced
was instantly adopted by the races who came in contact with the
Spaniards. Even in Peru, with its wonderful agricultural develop-
ment and irrigating canals, no trace of this device is anciently known,
and to-day the tribes of Central and South America still follow the
rude and primitive model first introduced by their conquerors.

If we study the musical instruments of the New World races
we find various forms of whistles, flutes, rattles, split bells, and
drums, but seek in vain for a stringed instrument of any kind. This
is all the more surprising when we find evidences of the ancient use
of the bow. If Dr. Tylor is right, we may well imagine that the lute
of ancient Egypt was evolved from the musical bow with its gourd
resonator (so common in various parts of Africa), and this in turn
an outgrowth of the archer's bow, or, what at the moment seems
quite as probable, the musical bow might have been the primitive
form from which was evolved the archer's bow on the one hand and
the lute on the other. Dr. Mason, in a brief study of the musical
bow, finds it in various forms in Africa and sporadic cases of it in
this country, and expresses the conviction that stringed musical in-
struments were not known to any of the aborigines of the western
hemisphere before Columbus. Dr. Brinton is inclined to dispute
this conclusion, though I am led to believe that Dr. Mason is right;
for had this simple musical device been known anciently in this
country, it would have spread so widely that its pre-Columbian use
would have been beyond any contention. In Japan evidences of a
stringed instrument run back to the third or fourth century of our
era, and in China the kin (five strings) and seih (thirteen strings)
were known a thousand years before Christ. These were played in
temples of worship, at religious rites, times of offering, etc. It seems

WAS MIDDLE AMERICA PEOPLED FROM ASIA? 13

incredible that any contact sufficient to affect the religious customs
of Mexico or Central America could have occurred without the in-
troduction of a stringed instrument of some kind.*

In the Ceremonial Usages of the Chinese (1100 b. a), a work
already referred to, one may find allusions to a number of forms of
wheeled carriages, with directions for their construction. Minute
details even are given as to material and dimensions, such as measur-
ing the spoke holes in the rim with millet seed (reminding one of the
modern method of ascertaining the cubic contents of crania), all
indicating the advanced development of wheeled vehicles. If from
this early date in China up to the fifth century a. d., any people had
found their way from China to middle America, one wonders why
the wheel was not introduced. Its absence must be accounted for.
It was certainly not for lack of good roads or constructive skill. Its
appearance in this hemisphere was synchronous with the Spanish
invasion, and when once introduced spread rapidly north and south.
Like the plow, it still remains to-day the clumsy and primitive
model of its Spanish prototype.

The potter's wheel is known to have existed in Asia from the
earliest times; the evidence is not only historical, but is attested by
the occurrence of lathe-turned pottery in ancient graves. We look
in vain for a trace of a potter's wheel in America previous to the
sixteenth century. Mr. Henry C. Mercer regards a potter's device
used in Yucatan as a potter's wheel, and believes it to have been pre-
Columbian. This device, known as the Jcabal, consists of a thick
disk of wood which rests on a slippery board, the potter turning the
disk with his feet. The primitive workman uses his feet to turn,
hold, and move objects in many operations. The primitive potter
has always turned his jar in manipulation rather than move himself
about it. Resting the vessel on a block and revolving it with his
feet is certainly the initial step toward the potter's wheel, but so
simple an expedient must not be regarded as having any relation to
the true potter's wheel, which originated in regions where other
kinds of wheels revolving on pivots were known.

It seems reasonable to believe that had the Chinese, Japanese,
or Koreans visited the Mexican coast in such numbers as is believed
they did, we ought certainly to find some influence, some faint strain,
at least, of the Chinese method of writing in the hitherto unfathom-
able inscriptions of Maya and Aztec. Until recently it was not
known whether they were phonetic or ideographic ; indeed, Dr. Brin-

* Since the above was written Dr. Brinton and Mr. Saville have called my attention to
such evidences as would warrant the belief in the existence of a pre-Columbian stringed
musical instrument. The devices are, however, of such a nature as to indicate their inde-
pendent origin.

14 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

ton has devised a new word to express their character, which he calls
ikonomatic. This distinguished philologist of the American lan-
guages confesses that not even the threshold of investigation in
the solution of these enigmatical puzzles has been passed. Had the
Chinese introduced or modified or even influenced in any way the
method of writing as seen on the rock inscriptions of Central
America, one familiar with Chinese might have found some clew, as
was the case in deciphering the ancient writings of Assyria and
Egypt. Grotefend's work on cuneiform inscriptions and Champol-
lion's interpretation of Egyptian came about by the assumption of
certain inclosures representing historic characters, which were re-
vealed in one case by an inference and in another by an accompany-
ing Greek inscription. If we examine the early Chinese characters
as shown on ancient coins of the Hea dynasty (1756 to 2142 b. c),
or the characters on ancient bronze vases of the Shang dynasty
1113 to 1755 b. c), we find most of them readily deciphered by
sinologists, and coming down a few centuries later the characters
are quite like those as written to-day. On some of the many in-
scribed stone monuments of Central America one might expect to
find some traces of Chinese characters if any intercourse had taken
place, whereas the Maya glypts are remotely unlike either Chinese
or Egyptian writing. Some acute students of this subject are inclined
to believe that these undecipherable characters have been evolved
from pictographs which were primarily derived from the simple
picture writing so common among the races of the New World.

It seems clearly impossible that any intercourse could have taken
place between Asia and America without an interchange of certain
social commodities. The " divine weed," tobacco, has been the com-
fort of the races of the western hemisphere north and south for un-
numbered centuries: stone tobacco pipes are exhumed in various
parts of the continent; cigarettes made of corn husks are found in
ancient graves and caves; the metatarsals of a deer, doubly per-
forated, through which to inhale tobacco or its smoke in some form,
are dug up on the shores of Lake Titicaca.

The question naturally arises why tobacco was not carried back
to Asia by some of the returning emigrants, or why tea was not in-
troduced into this country by those early invaders. A Buddhist
priest without tea or tobacco would be an anomaly. There are many
other herbs, food plants, etc., that should not have waited for the
Spanish invasion on the one hand, or the Dutch and Portuguese
navigator along the Chinese coast on the other.

Finally, if evidences of Asiatic contact exist, they should cer-
tainly be found in those matters most closely connected with man,
such as his weapons, clothing, sandals, methods of conveyance, pot-

FIBER INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 15

tery making and devices thereon, musical instruments, and above
all house structure and modes of burial. More remote perhaps would
be survivals of language, and if the invaders had a written one, the
characters, whether phonetic or ideographic, would have been left
in the enduring rock inscriptions. If now a study of the aborigines
of the western hemisphere from Hudson Bay to Tierra del Fuego
fails to reveal even a remote suggestion of resemblance to any of
these various matters above enumerated, their absence must in some
way be accounted for by Asiaticists.

+«»

THE POSSIBLE FIBEK INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED

STATES.

By CHAELES EICHAEDS DODGE.

THE wealth of any community is dependent on the variety and
extent of its industries, the utilization of local natural resources,
and the employment of the labor of all classes of its population. In
locations of successful industrial operations the farmer derives in-
creased incomes, the value of his products is greater, his lands of
higher value, and the wages of agricultural labor larger. The rural
population contiguous to large towns, therefore, is more prosperous
than the larger farming contingent more remote from manufacturing
or industrial centers. The farmers of the first class are prosperous
because they have a home market for their dairy products, fruits,
vegetables, and other " truck," which they are able to produce, for
the most part, on small areas by high culture, while those of the sec-
ond class are forced to expend their energies on commercial com-
modities such as cotton, wool, meat, grain, etc., with long hauls in
transportation," and with heavy competition, international as well as
domestic.

In times of depression, or when competition has grown too heavy,
the cultivation of certain staples may cease to be remunerative, and
the unfortunate producer is compelled to diversify his agriculture, or
adopt some other means of livelihood.

Just such a misfortune has overtaken many farmers in the United
States within the past few years. Within two years, in fact, wheat
has been a drug in the market, while corn has been cheaper in some
sections than coal, and cotton is now so low that it hardly pays to
grow it, without considering the necessity, for the Southern farmer,
of competing against the seventy-five thousand bales of Egyptian cot-
ton which enter our ports in a year. Confronted with these condi-
tions, there never has been a time when farmers were more anxious to

16 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

discover new paying crops. Among the possible new rural industries
that have attracted the attention of the agricultural class is that of
fiber production, though the growth of certain kinds of fibers in past
time has been a source of income to the country. Already there is a
widespread interest in the subject throughout the West and South,
and farmers are only seeking information regarding the particular
practice involved in the cultivation of flax, ramie, and other fibers,
cost of production, market, etc., but many are asking where the
proper seed can be secured with which to make a start.

The importation of unmanufactured flax, hemp, textile grasses,
and other fibers amounts annually to a sum ranging from fifteen mil-
lion to twenty million dollars, while the imported manufactures
of these fibers amount to almost double this value, or, in round
numbers, approximately forty-five million dollars. With the estab-
lishment and extension of three or four fiber industries in this
country, and with the new manufacturing enterprises that would
grow out of such establishment and extension, an immense sum could
be readily saved to the country, and the money representing the
growth of these fibers would add just so much to the wealth of the
farming class.

There are two ways in which we may arrive at a solution of this
problem: by direct Government aid, and through the intelligently
directed efforts of private enterprise.

Government experiments for the development or extension of
vegetable fiber industries have been instituted, at different times, in
many countries. In some instances these have been confined to test-
ing the strength of native fibrous substances for comparison with
similar tests of commercial fibers. Such were the almost exhaustive
experiments of Roxburgh in India early in the present century.
Another direction for Government experimentation has been the test-
ing of machines to supersede costly hand labor in the preparation
of the raw material for market, or in the development of chemical
processes for the further preparation of the fibers for manufacture.
The broadest field of experiment, however, has been the growth of
the plants under different conditions, either to introduce their culture,
or to economically develop the industries growing out of their culture,
when such industries need to be fostered. The introduction of ramie
culture is an example of the first instance, the fostering of the almost
extinct flax industry of our grandfathers' days an illustration of the
second.

The United States has conducted experiments or instituted in-
quiries in the fiber interest at various times in the last fifty years,
but it is only since 1890 that an office of practical experiment
and inquiry has been established by the United States Depart-

FIBER INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 17

merit of Agriculture, that has been continuous through a term of
years.

Hi

to

o

H
H
O
O

In the present work the efforts of the Government have been
mainly directed in the line of collecting and disseminating authorita-

TOL. LIV. 2

18 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

tive information relating to all branches of the industry, in importing
proper seed for experimental cultivation, and in directing experi-
ments, either on its own account or in co-operation with State and
even private interests. The testing of new labor-saving machinery
has also come within its province.

The subject in its details will be better understood by con-
sidering the list of the more important commercial fibers known
to our market. The list is not a long one, for it barely reaches a
total of fifteen species. The fibers of the first rank are the spinning-
fibers — namely, cotton, flax, hemp, jute; of the second rank, or cord-
age fibers, Sisal, Manila, Sunn and Mauritius hemps, and New Zealand
flax; and of the third rank, Tampico, or ixtle, African fiber or pal-
metto, coir or cocoanut, piassaba, Mexican whisk, raffia, and Spanish
moss, which are used in brush manufacture, in upholstery, and for
other rough manufactures. Of these fifteen forms, only cotton, hemp,
palmetto, and Spanish moss are produced in the United States in
commercial quantity, though flax line has been produced to some
extent in the past. Of those not produced in commercial quantity
in this country, but which would thrive in cultivation, may be
mentioned jute, New Zealand flax, Sisal hemp, cocoanut, and pos-
sibly Sunn hemp in subtropical Florida, with a few " substitutes,"
which will be mentioned hereafter.

I have neglected to mention in this list the sponge cucumber, a
species of Luff a used as a bath sponge, which is imported from Japan
in quantity, and which grows in the United States.

Passing the list of recognized commercial fibers, we come to a
large number of species, forms allied to the above, that are either
employed locally, chiefly by the natives in the countries where grown,
or that would be capable of employment in the world's manufacture
were they not inferior to the standard commercial forms at present
recognized, and with which they would necessarily compete at a dis-
advantage. This list is a long one, for in the single genus Agave, to
which belong the plant producing the Sisal hemp of commerce, there
are over one hundred species in Mexico alone, more than one half
of which would produce good fiber. In our own country it would
be possible to enumerate twenty species of plants that are recognized
as American weeds, the fibers of which could be employed as hemp,
flax, or jute substitutes were these materials unobtainable, besides
half as many structural fiber plants similar to the agave, the products
of which could be employed as cordage fiber substitutes in the same
manner. Many of these uncultivated plants have been known to the
aborigines for years, possibly for centuries, as we find their fiber,
produced in varied forms of rude manufacture, in ancient tombs or
other burial places.

■<

H
O

■A
■&
55

■A

z;

M

J

20 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

After exhausting the list of plants that may be termed com-
mercial fiber substitutes, in different countries where they grow, there
still remains a much larger list of species that are chiefly interesting
in a scientific enumeration of those plants which produce in their
stalks, leaves, or seed vessels what may be termed fibrous substance.
My own catalogue of the fibers of the world already foots up over
one thousand species of plants, and the complete catalogue for all
countries might extend the list to a thousand more.

In considering the undeveloped fibers of the United States, it will
be seen we should only recognize the actual commercial forms which
we do not produce, but which may be produced within our borders,
or such native growths as may be economically employed as their
substitutes, and which possibly might be brought into commercial
importance.

The hemp industry is already established, though it should be
extended in order to recover its lost position among American rural
industries. Where in the past we produced forty thousand tons of
hemp in the United States, we now produce less than a fifth of this
quantity. The cultivation of flax in the United States before the
days of the present factory system was so widespread that it was of
national importance. Its manufacture was largely a home industry,
however, conducted by the fireside, and, as in ancient Greece and
Rome, the work was performed by the women of the household.
With the advent of the factory system came competition; the house-
wife laid aside her spinning wheel, the clumsy home-made loom fell
into disuse, and the farmer grew no more flax for fiber. Then the
flaxseed industry was extended, and after the close of the war a
large demand sprang up for coarse fiber for the roughest of uses— for
bagging and upholstery, in connection with hemp — and hundreds of
little tow mills came into existence in the Middle and Western
States.

The introduction of jute opened another chapter, and the decline
of this crude attempt at a flax industry is recorded. Meanwhile
some line flax was produced, but the extension of spinning and
weaving establishments made a larger demand for this fiber, which
was chiefly imported. Land in the old flax-growing States became
more valuable for other crops, especially with the low prices brought
about by foreign competition, and gradually the flax culture in the
United States became a thing of the past.

In recent years similar causes have served to operate against the
industry in foreign flax countries where old and plodding methods
are still in vogue, with additional factors in impoverished soils and
high rental for land, and the cultural industry abroad is declining.
With the opening of new and fertile Western lands in this country,

FIBER INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 21

;,,

WUL -

and with the employment of the finest labor-saving agricultural
implements in the world, the conditions are again changed, and are
now favorable for American agriculture to re-establish this industry,
and to make good a declining foreign supply. Our farmers are
ready for the work, but they have not only lost their skill and cun-
ning in producing the straw and preparing the fiber for the spinner,
but new and more economical methods must be adopted to place the
culture on a solid basis.

A million acres of flax are grown for seed annually, but the growth
of flax for seed and flax for fiber are two very different things;
moreover, Old World
methods do not coin-
cide with the progress-
ive ideas of the edu-
cated farmers of the
United States, for the
peasant class does not
exist in this country.
A practice essentially
American must be fol-
lowed in order to make
the culture profitable,
and to equalize the
difference in wages on
the two sides of the
Atlantic. This differ-
ence is more apparent
than real, for it can
be readily overcome
by intelligently di-
rected effort, by dif-
ference in soil fer-
tility and rentals, and
especially by the use
of certain forms of
labor-saving machines that already have been devised and are being
rapidly improved. The " American practice," then, means, first,
an intelligent practice, with a view to economy of effort and involv-
ing the use of machinery in the place of plodding foreign meth-
ods; and, second, the co-operation of farm labor and capital to the
end of systematizing the work — i. e., the farmers of a community
growing the flax, and capital, represented by a central mill, turn-
ing the straw when grown into a grade of fiber that the spinners
can afford to purchase. Here is the solution of the flax problem

*%

*

Hackling Flax.

22

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

in a nutshell. The scheme has already been tested in practice with
favorable results, but the farmers in any community can do little
until capital is more generally interested.

This brings up an important point and presents another obstacle,
for great harm has been done to all new fiber industries in recent

years by the misdirected
efforts of some professional
promoters. In certain in-
stances the organized fiber
companies have been mere
stock - jobbing concerns.
They have had their rise
and fall, men with idle
money have burned their
fingers, and the particular
industry has received a
" black eye."

The story of Govern-
ment effort toward the es-
tablishment of the flax in-
dustry need not be told
here; there has been wide-
spread prejudice to over-
come, with the opposition
of the importers, discour-
agements to be studied and
explained, the unvarnished
truth to be told, and prac-
tical and authoritative in-
formation to be given to
all who may seek it. The
literature of the subject
has been disseminated by thousands of copies, and new editions are
being ordered.

As to the results: Superior flax has been produced in this country
in limited quantities since the work began, and through extended
field experiments flax regions have been discovered that are thought
to equal the best flax centers of Europe. The department experi-
ments in the Puget Sound region of "Washington have demonstrated
that we possess in that State a climate and soil that bid fair to rival
the celebrated flax region of Courtrai, and from these experiments
scutched flax has been produced that is valued by manufacturers in
Ireland at three hundred and fifty dollars per ton, and hackled flax
worth five hundred dollars per ton. Much lias been done, but a great

California Hkmp.

24 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

deal more remains to be accomplished in bringing together the
farmer and capitalist in the practical work of growing, retting,
scutching, and preparing for market American flax fiber, for ques-
tions of culture are settled.

"We should restore our hemp industry to its former proportions
by producing high-grade instead of low-grade fiber. The growth of
a grade of American hemp that will sell for six to eight cents per
pound, instead of three to three and a half cents per pound, as at
the present time, means that our farmers must follow more closely
the careful practices of Europe, and especially that they must adopt
water retting in place of the present practice of dew retting, which
gives a fiber dark in color and uneven in quality. A careful con-
sideration of the practices of Italy and France as set forth in Fiber
Report No. 11, Department of Agriculture, will materially aid those
who desire to change their product from the cheaper dark hemps, for
which there is small demand, to the higher-priced light hemps, which
will compete with the imported commodity.

One of the most interesting problems of the clay in the utilization
of the new fiber material, and one that is attracting the attention of
all civilized countries, is the industrial production of that wonder-
ful substance known in the Orient as China grass, in India as rhea,
and in Europe and America as ramie. They money spent by gov-
ernments and by private enterprise throughout the world, in experi-
ments and inventions, in the effort to establish the ramie industry,
would make up the total of a princely fortune. Obstacle after
obstacle has been overcome in the years of persistent effort, and now
we stand before the last barrier, baffled for the time, but still hopeful,
and with efforts unrelaxed. The difficulty may be stated in a few
words: ramie culture will only become a paying industry when an
economically successful machine for stripping the fiber has been
placed on the market. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been
spent in efforts to perfect a machine, but no Government fiber expert
in the world recognizes that we have such a machine at the pres-
ent time, though great progress has been made in machine con-
struction.

The world's interest in this fiber began in 1869, when a reward
of five thousand pounds was offered by the Government of India for
the best machine with which to decorticate the green stalks. The first
exhibition and trial of machines took place in 1872, resulting in utter
failure. The reward was again offered, and in 1879 a second official
trial was held, at which ten machines competed, though none filled
the requirements, and subsequently the offer was withdrawn. The
immediate result was to stimulate invention in many countries, and
from 1869 to the present time inventors have been untiring in their

FIBER INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 25

efforts to produce a successful machine. The commercial history of
ramie, therefore, does not extend further back than 1869.

The first French official trials took place in 1888, followed by
the trials of 1889, in Paris, at which the writer was present, and
which are recorded in the official reports of the Fiber Investigation
series. Another trial was
held in 1891, and in the
same year the first official
trials in America took
place, in the State of
Vera Cruz, in Mexico,
followed the next year
by the official trials of
American machines in
the United States, these
being followed by the
trials of 1894. Since
that year further prog-
ress in machine construc-
tion has been made, and a
third official trial should
be held in the near
future.

The first records of
Chinese shipments of this
fiber to European mar-
kets show that in 1872
two hundred or three
hundred tons of the fiber
were sent to London,
valued at eighty pounds
per ton, or about four hundred dollars. India also sent small ship-
ments, but there was a light demand, with a considerable reduction
in price, the quotations being thirty pounds to forty pounds per
ton for Chinese and ten pounds" to thirty pounds for the Indian
product.

Those who are unacquainted with the properties and uses of this
wonderful textile may peruse with interest the following paragraph
from Fiber Report 7, on the Cultivation of Ramie, issued by the
Department of Agriculture:

" The fiber of ramie is strong and durable, is of all fibers least
affected by moisture, and from these characteristics must take first
rank in value as a textile substance. It has three times the strength
of Russian hemp, while its filaments can be separated almost to the

Growth of Jute in Louisiana.

26 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

fineness of silk. In manufacture it has been spun on various forms
of textile machinery, also used in connection with cotton, wool, and
silk, and can be employed as a substitute in certain forms of manu-
facture for all these textiles and for flax also, where elasticity is not
essential. It likewise produces superior paper, the fineness and close
texture of its pulp making it a most valuable bank-note paper. In
England, France, Germany, Austria, and in our own country to an
experimental extent, the fiber has also been woven into a great variety
of fabrics, covering the widest range of uses, such as lace, lace cur-
tains, handkerchiefs, cloth, or white goods resembling fine linen, dress
goods, napkins, table damask, table covers, bedspreads, drapery for
curtains or lambrequins, plush, and even carpets and fabrics suitable
for clothing. The fiber can be dyed in all desirable shades or colors,
some examples having the luster and brilliancy of silk. In China
and Japan the fiber is extracted by hand labor; it is not only manu-
factured into cordage, fish lines, nets, and similar coarse manu-
factures, but woven into the finest and most beautiful of fabrics."

China is at present the source of supply of the raw product, and
the world's demand is only about ten thousand tons, nine tenths of
this quantity being absorbed in Oriental countries. The ramie situa-
tion in the United States at the present time may be briefly sum-
marized as follows :

The plant can be grown successfully in ( 'alifornia and in the Gulf
States, and will produce from two to four crops per year without
replanting, giving from two hundred and fifty to eight hundred
pounds of fiber per acre, dependent upon the number of cuttings,
worth perhaps four cents per pound. The machines for preparing
this fiber for market are hardly able at the present time to clean the
product of one acre (single crop) in a day, and the fiber is quite
inferior to the commercial China grass. A new French machine pro-
duces a quality of fiber which approaches the China grass of com-
merce, but its output per day is too small to make its use profitable
in this country. All obstacles in chemical treatment of the fiber and
in spinning and manufacture are overcome, and the world is waiting
for the successful device which will economically prepare the raw
material for market.

The part the United States Government is taking in the work is
to co-operate in experiments, to issue publications giving all desired
information regarding culture, the machine question, and the utiliza-
tion of the fiber. It tests new decorticators and reports to the public
upon their merits or demerits. It cautions farmers and capitalists,
for the present, to go into the industry with their eyes open, for
the professional promotor has seized upon this industry, above all
others in the fiber interest, as one in which he can more readily gull

FIBER INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 27

a gullible public. Nevertheless, responsible capitalists are making
every legitimate effort to place the manufacturing industry on a solid
basis in this country, and to attain to the progress made in other
countries where manufacture has already been established, and where
the Chinese fiber is employed as the raw material.

Thus far I have only considered spinning fibers. More than one
half of the raw fibers imported in the United States are employed

A Florida Sisal Hemp Plant.

in the manufacture of rope and small twine, or bagging for baling
the cotton crop. Cordage is manufactured chiefly from the Manila
and Sisal hemps, the former derived from the Philippine Islands, the
latter from Yucatan. Some jute is also used in this industry, though
the fiber is more largely employed in bagging; and some common
hemp, such as is grown in Kentucky, is also used.

We can not produce Manila hemp in the United States, and this
substance will always hold its own for marine cordage. Jute will
grow to perfection in many of the Southern States, but it is doubtful

28

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

if we can produce it at a price low enough to compete with the cheaper
grades of the imported India fiber. Rough flax and common hemp
might be used in lieu of jute, in bagging manufacture, but the ques-
tion of competition is still a factor. Sisal hemp, which has been im-
ported to the value of seven million dollars a year, when prices were
high, will grow in southern Florida, and the plant has been the sub-
ject of exhaustive study and experiment. This plant was first grown
in the United States on Indian Key, Florida, about 1836, a few

tw.vm :

%:J~--

Pineapple Field in Florii

plants having been introduced from Mexico by Dr. Henry Perrine,
and from this early attempt at cultivation the species has spread over
southern Florida, the remains of former small experimental tracts
being found at many points, though uncared for.

The high prices of cordage fibers in 1890 and 1891, brought
about by the schemes of certain cordage concerns, called attention to
the necessity of producing, if possible, a portion of the supply of
these hard fibers within our own borders. In 1891, in response to
requests for definite information regarding the growth of the Sisal
hemp plant, a preliminary survey of the Key system and Biscayne
Bay region of southern Florida was made by the Department of
Agriculture, and in the following year an experimental factory was

FIBER INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 29

established at Cocoanut Grove with special machinery sent down for
the work. With this equipment, and with a fast-sailing yacht at the
disposal of the special agent in charge of the experiments, a careful
study of the Sisal hemp plant, its fiber, and the possibility of the in-
dustry was made, and the results were duly published. About this
time the Bahaman Government became interested in the industry,
and with shiploads of plants, both purchased and gathered without
cost on the uninhabited Florida Keys, the Bahamans began the new
industry by setting out extensive plantations on the different islands
of the group. The high prices of 1890 having overstimulated pro-
duction in Yucatan, two or three years later there was a tremendous
fall in the market price of Sisal hemp, and Florida's interest in the
new fiber subsided, though small plantations had been attempted. In
the meantime, American invention having continued its efforts in the
construction of cleaning devices, two successful machines for pre-
paring the raw fiber have been produced which have, in a measure,
superseded the clumsy raspadore hitherto universally employed for
the purpose, and one of the obstacles to the production of the fiber
in Florida is removed. The reaction toward better prices has already
begun, and the future establishment of an American Sisal hemp in-
dustry in southern Florida is a possibility, though there are several
practical questions yet to be settled.

Pineapple culture is already a flourishing industry in the Sisal
hemp region. A pineapple plant matures but one apple in a season,
and after the harvest of fruit the old leaves are of no further use to
the plant, and may be removed. The leaves have the same structural
system as the agaves — that is, they are composed of a cellular mass
through which the fibers extend, and when the epidermis and pulpy
matter are eliminated the residue is a soft, silklike filament, the value
of which has long been recognized. Only fifty pounds of this fiber
can be obtained from a ton of leaves, but, as the product would doubt-
less command double the price of Sisal hemp, its production would
be profitable. How to secure this fiber cheaply is the problem. The
Sisal hemp machines are too rough in action for so fine a fiber, and,
at the rate of ten leaves to the pound, working up a ton of the
material would mean the handling of over twenty thousand leaves
to secure perhaps three dollars' worth of the commercial product.
Were the fiber utilized in the arts, however, and its place estab-
lished, it would compete in a measure with flax as a spinning fiber,
for its filaments are divisible to the ten-thousandth of an inch. The
substance has already been utilized to a slight extent in Eastern
countries (being hand-prepared) in the manufacture of costly, filmy,
cobweblike fabrics that will almost float in air.

Another possible fiber industry for Florida is the cultivation of

3°

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

bowstring hemp, or the fiber of a species of Sansevieria that grows in
rank luxuriance thoiighout the subtropical region of the State. The
fiber is finer and softer than Sisal hemp, though not so fine as pine-
apple fiber, and would command in price a figure between the two.
The yield is about sixty pounds to the ton of leaves. Many other
textile plants might be named that have been experimented with by

A Plant of New Zealand Flax.

the Government or throvfgh private enterprise, but the most impor-
tant, in a commercial sense, have been named.

There is a considerable list of plants, however, which are the
subject of frequent inquiry, but which will never be utilized commer-
cially as long as other more useful fibers hold the market. These
for the most part produce bast fiber, and the farmer knows them as
wild field growths or weeds. They are interesting in themselves, and
many of them produce a fair quality of fiber, but to what extent they
might be brought into cultivation, or how economically the raw
material might be prepared, arc questions the details of which only

FIBER INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 31

experiment can determine. But the fact that at best they can only
be regarded as the substitutes for better, already established, com-
mercial fibers has prevented serious experiment to ascertain their
place. They are continually brought to notice, however, for again
and again the thrifty farmer, as he finds their bleached and weather-
beaten filaments clinging to the dead stalks in the fields, deludes him-
self in believing that he has made a discovery which may lead to
untold wealth, and a letter and the specimen are promptly dispatched
to the fiber expert for information concerning them. In such cases
all that can be done is to give full information, taking care to let
the inquirer down as easily as possible.

The limit of practical work in the direction of new textile indus-
tries is so clearly defined that the expert need never be in doubt
regarding the economic value of any fiber plant that may be sub-
mitted to him for an opinion, and the long catalogue of mere fibrous
substances will never demand his serious attention.

In studying the problem of the establishment of new fiber indus-
tries, therefore, we should consider " materials " rather than par-
ticular species of plants — utility or adaptation rather than acclimati-
zation. We should study the entire range of textile manufacture,
and before giving attention to questions of cultivation we should first
ascertain how far the plants which we already know can be produced
within our own borders may be depended upon to supply the " ma-
terial " adapted to present demands in manufacture. If the larger
part of our better fabrics — cordage and fine twines, bagging, and
similar rough goods — can be made from cotton, flax, common hemp,
and Sisal hemp, which we ought to be able to produce in quantity
at home, there is no further need of costly experiments with other
fibers. Unfortunately, however, it is possible for manufacturers to
" discriminate " against a particular fiber when the use of another
fiber better subserves their private interests. As an example, common
liemp was discriminated against in a certain form of small cordage,
in extensive use, because by employing other, imported fibers, it has
been possible in the past to control the supply, and in this day of
trusts such control is an important factor in regulating the profits.
With common hemp grown on a ..thousand American farms in 1890,
the price of Sisal and Manila hemp binding twine, of which fifty
thousand tons were used, would never have been forced up to sixteen
and twenty cents a pound, when common hemp, which is just as good
for the purpose, could have been produced in unlimited quantity for
three and a half cents. The bagging with which the cotton crop is
baled is made of imported jute, but common hemp or even low-
grade flax would make better bagging. A change from jute to hemp
or flax in the manufacture of bagging (it would only be a return to

3 2

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

these fibers), could it be brought about, would mean an advantage
of at least three million dollars to our farmers. Yet in consider-
ing such a desirable change we are confronted with two questions:
Is it possible to compete with foreign jute? and can prejudice be
overcome? For it is true that there are, even among farmers, those
who would hesitate to buy hemp bagging at the same price as jute
bagging because it was not the thing they were familiar with. But

Cabbage Palmetto in Florida.

some of them will buy inferior jute twine, colored to resemble hemp,
at the price of hemp, and never question the fraud.

Our farmers waste the fibrous straw produced on the million acres
of flax grown for seed. It has little value, it is true, for the produc-
tion of good spinning flax, yet by modifying present methods of
culture, salable fiber can be produced and the seed saved as well,
giving two paying crops from the same harvest where now the flax-
seed grower secures but one.

FIBER INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 33

In summarizing the situation in this country, therefore, it will be
seen that, out of the hundreds of fibrous plants known to the botanist
and to the fiber expert, the textile economist need only consider four
or five species and their varieties, all of them supplying well-known
commercial products that are regularly quoted in the world's market
price current, the cultivation and preparation of which are known
quantities. Were the future of new fiber industries in this country
to rest upon this simple statement, there would be little need of
further effort. The problem, however, is one of economical adapta-
tion to conditions not widely understood in the first place, and not
altogether within control in the second.

Twenty flax farmers in a community decide to grow flax for fiber,
and two of these farmers are perhaps acquainted with the culture.
They go to work each in his own way; ten make a positive failure
in cultivation for lack of proper direction, five of the remaining ten
fail in retting the straw, and five succeed in turning out as many dif-
ferent grades of flax line, only one grade of which may come up to
the standard required by the spinners. And all of them will have
lost money. If the failure is investigated it will be discovered that
the proper seed was not used; in some instances the soil was not
adapted to the culture, and old-fashioned ideas prevailed in the prac-
tice followed. The straw was not pulled at the proper time, and it
was improperly retted. The breaking and scutching were accom-
plished in a primitive way, because the farmers could not afford to
purchase the necessary machinery, and of course they all lost money,
and decided in future to let flax alone.

But the next year the president of the local bank, the secretary
of the town board of trade, and three or four prosperous merchants
formed a little company and built a flax mill. A competent super-
intendent — perhaps an old country flax-man — was employed, a quan-
tity of good seed was imported, and the company contracted with
these twenty farmers to grow five, ten, or fifteen acres of flax straw
each, under the direction of the old Scotch superintendent. The seed
was sold to them to be paid for in product; they were advised regard-
ing proper soil and the best practice to follow; they grew good straw,
and when it was ready to harvest the company took it off their hands
at a stipulated price per ton. The superintendent of the mill assumed
all further responsibility, attended to the retting, and worked up the
product. Result: several carloads of salable flax fiber shipped to the
Eastern market in the winter, the twenty farmers had " money to
burn " instead of flax straw, and the company was able to declare a
dividend. This is not altogether a supposititious case, and it illus-
trates the point that in this day of specialties the fiber industry can
only be established by co-operation.

VOL. LIT. 3

34

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

In all these industries, whether the fiber cultivated is flax, ramie,
or jute, the machine question enters so largely into the problem of
their successful establishment that the business must be conducted on

a large scale. Even in
the growth of Sisal hemp
in Florida, should it be
attempted, the enterprise
will only pay when the
necessary mill plant for
extracting the fiber is
able to draw upon a culti-
vated area of five hun-
dred acres. In other
words, the small farmer
can never become a fiber
producer independently,
but must represent a sin-
gle wheel in the com-
bination.

The subject is a vast
one, and, while I have
been able to set forth the
importance of these in-
dustries as new sources of
national prosperity, only
an outline has been given
of the difficulties which
are factors in the indus-
trial problem. Summing
up the points of van-
tage, the market is al-

The Luffa, or Sponge Cucumber. ready assured; through

years of study and ex-
periment we are beginning to better understand the particular con-
ditions that influence success or failure in this country; we have the
best agricultural implements in the world, and American inventive
genius will be able, doubtless, in time, to perfect the new mechanical
devices which are so essential to economical production; our farmers
are intelligent and industrious, and need only the promise of a fair
return for their labor to enter heart and sonl into this work.

-*«♦-

WHAT IS SOCIAL EVOLUTION? 35

WHAT IS SOCIAL EVOLUTION?

By HERBERT SPENCER.

THOUGH to Mr. Mallock the matter will doubtless seem other-
wise, to most it will seem that he is not prudent in returning
to the question he has raised; since the result must be to show again
how unwarranted is the interpretation he has given of my views.
Let me dispose of the personal question before passing to the imper-
sonal one.

He says that I, declining to take any notice of those other pas-
sages which he has quoted from me, treat his criticism as though it
were " founded exclusively on the particular passage which " I deal
with, " or at all events to rest on that passage as its principal founda-
tion and justification." * It would be a sufficient reply that in a
letter to a newspaper numerous extracts are inadmissible; but there
is the further reply that I had his own warrant for regarding the
passage in question as conclusively showing the truth of his repre-
sentations. He writes: —

Should any doubt as to the matter still remain in the reader's mind, it
will be dispelled by the quotation of one further passage. U A true social
aggregate" he says [" as distinct from a mere large family], is a union of
like individuals, independent of one another in parentage, and approxi-
mately equal in capacities." \

I do not see how, having small liberty of quotation, I could do
better than take, as summarizing his meaning, this sentence which
he gives as dissipating " any doubt." But now let me repeat the
paragraph in which I have pointed out how distorted is Mr. Mal-
lock's interpretation of this sentence.

Every reader will assume that this extract is from some passage treating
of human societies. He will be wrong, however. It forms part of a sec-
tion describing Super-Organic Evolution at large ("Principles of Sociol-
ogy," sec. 3), and treating, more especially, of the social insects ; the pur-
pose of the section heing to exclude these from consideration. It is implied
that the inquiry about to be entered upon concerns societies formed of like
units, and not societies formed of units extremely unlike. It is pointed out
that among the Termites there are six unlike forms, and among the Sauba
ants, besides the two sexually-developed forms, there are three classes of
workers — one indoor and two outdoor. The members of such communities
— queens, males, soldiers, workers — differ widely in their structures, in-
stincts, and powers. These communities formed of units extremely unequal
in their capacities are contrasted with communities formed of units ap-
proximately equal in their capacities — the human communities about to be

* Nineteenth Century, p. 316.

•f- Aristocracy and Evolution, pp. 52, 53. The italics are his.

3 6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

dealt with. When I thus distinguished between groups of individuals hav-
ing widely different sets of faculties, and groups of individuals having
similar sets of faculties (constituting their common human nature), I never
imagined that by speaking of these last as having approximately equal
capacities, in contrast with the first as having extremely unequal ones, I
might be supposed to deny that any considerable differences existed among
these last. Mr. Mallock, however, detaching this passage from its context,
represents it as a deliberate characterization to be thereafter taken for
granted ; and, on the strength of it, ascribes to me the absurd belief that
there are no marked superiorities and inferiorities among men ! or, that if
there are, no social results flow from them ! *

Though I thought it well thus to repudiate the absurd belief
ascribed to me, I did not think it well to enter upon a discussion of
Mr. Mallock's allegations at large. He says I ought to have given
to the matter " more than the partial and inconclusive attention he
has [I have] bestowed upon it." Apparently he forgets that if a
writer on many subjects deals in full with all who challenge his
conclusions, he will have time for nothing else; and he forgets that
one who, at the close of life, has but a small remnant of energy left,
while some things of moment remain to be done, must as a rule leave
assailants unanswered or fail in his more important aims. Now,
however, that Mr. Mallock has widely diffused his misinterpretations,
I feel obliged, much to my regret, to deal with them. He will find
that my reply does not consist merely of a repudiation of the
absurdity he ascribes to me.

The title of his book is a misnomer. I do not refer to the fact
that the word " Aristocracy," though used in a legitimate sense, is
used in a sense so unlike that now current as to be misleading: that
is patent. Nor do I refer to the fact that the word " Evolution,"
covering, as it does, all orders of phenomena, is wrongly used when
it is applied to that single group of phenomena constituting Social
Evolution. But I refer to the fact that his book does not concern
Social Evolution at all: it concerns social life, social activity, social
prosperity. Its facts bear somewhat the same relation to the facts
of Social Evolution as an account of a man's nutrition and physical
welfare bears to an account of his bodily structure and functions.

In an essay on "Progress: its Law and Cause," published in 1857,
containing an outline of the doctrine which I have since elaborated
in the ten volumes of Synthetic Philosophy, I commenced by point-
ing out defects in the current conception of progress.

It takes in not so much the reality of Progress as its accompaniments —
not so much the substance as the shadow. That progress in intelligence
seen during the growth of the child into the man, or the savage into the

* Literature, April 2, 1898.

WHAT IS SOCIAL EVOLUTION? 37

philosopher, is commonly regarded as consisting in the greater number of
facts known and laws understood : whereas the actual progress consists in
those internal modifications of which this increased knowledge is the ex-
pression. Social progress is supposed to consist in the produce of a greater
quantity and variety of the articles required for satisfying men's wants ;
in the increasing security of person and property; in widening freedom
of action : whereas, rightly understood, social progress consists in those
changes of structure in the social organism which have entailed these con-
sequences. The current conception is a teleological one. The phenomena
are contemplated solely as bearing on human happiness. Only those
changes are held to constitute progress which directly or indirectly tend to
heighten human happiness. And they are thought to constitute progress
simply because they tend to heighten human happiness. But rightly to
understand progress, we must inquire what is the nature of these changes,
considered apart from our interests.*

"With the view of excluding these anthropocentric interpretations
and also because it served better to cover those inorganic changes
which the word " progress " suggests but vaguely, I employed the
word " evolution." But my hope that, by the use of this word, irrele-
vant facts and considerations would be set aside, proves ill-grounded.
Mr. Mallock now includes under it those things which I endeavored
to exclude. He is dominated by the current idea of progress as a
process of improvement, in the human sense; and is thus led to join
with those social changes which constitute advance in social organi-
zation, those social changes which are ancillary to it — not constitut-
ing parts of the advance itself, but yielding fit materials and con-
ditions. It is true that he recognizes social science as aiming " to
deduce our civilization of to-day from the condition of the primi-
tive savage." It is true that he says social science " primarily sets
itself to explain, not how a given set of social conditions affects those
who live among them, but how social conditions at one epoch are
different from those of another, how each set of conditions is the
resultant of those preceding it." f But in his conception as thus
indicated he masses together not the phenomena of developing social
structures and functions only, but all those which accompany them;
as is shown by the complaint he approvingly cites that the sociological
theory set forth by me does not yield manifest solutions of current
social problems: ^ clearly implying the belief that an account of
social evolution containing no lessons which he who runs may read
is erroneous.

"While Mr. Mallock's statements and arguments thus recognize
Social Evolution in a general way, and its continuity with evolution
of simpler kinds, they do not recognize that definition of evolution

* Westminster Review, April, 185*7.

f Aristocracy and Evolution, pp. 5, 7. % Ibid., pp. 10, 11.

3 8 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

under its various forms, social included, which it has been all along
my purpose to illustrate in detail. He refers to evolution as exhibited
in the change from a savage to a civilized state; but he does not ask
in what the change essentially consists, and, not asking this, does
not see what alone is to be included in an account of it. Let us
contemplate for a moment the two extremes of the process.

Here is a wandering cluster of men, or rather of families, con-
cerning which, considered as an aggregate, little more can be said
than can be said of a transitory crowd: the group considered as a
whole is to be described not so much by characters as by the absence
of characters. It is so loose as hardly to constitute an aggregate,
and it is practically structureless. Turn now to a civilized society.
No longer a small wandering group but a vast stationary nation, it
presents us with a multitude of parts which, though separate in
various degrees, are tied together by their mutual dependence. The
cluster of families forming a primitive tribe separates with impunity :
now increase of size, now dissension, now need for finding food,
causes it from time to time to divide; and the resulting smaller
clusters carry on what social life they have just as readily as before.
But it is otherwise with a developed society. Not only by its station-
ariness is this prevented from dividing bodily, but its parts, though
distinct, have become so closely connected that they can not live
without mutual aid. It is impossible for the agricultural com-
munity to carry on its business if it has not the clothing which the
manufacturing community furnishes. Without fires neither urban
nor rural populations can do their work, any more than can the
multitudinous manufacturers who need engines and furnaces; so
that these are all dependent on coal-miners. The tasks of the mason
and the builder must be left undone unless the quarryman and the
carpenter have been active. Throughout all towns and villages retail
traders obtain from the Manchester district the calicoes they want,
from Leeds their woolens, from Sheffield their cutlery. And so
throughout, in general and in detail. That is to say, the whole
nation is made coherent by the dependence of its parts on one
another — a dependence so great that an extensive strike of coal-
miners checks the production of iron, throws many thousands of
ship-builders out of work, adds to the outlay for coal in all house-
holds, and diminishes railway dividends. Here then is one primary
contrast- — the primitive tribe is incoherent, the civilized nation is
coherent.

While the developing society has thus become integrated, it has
passed from its original uniform state into a multiform state.
Among savages there are no unlikenesses of occupations. Every
man is hunter and upon occasion warrior; every man builds his own

WHAT IS SOCIAL £ VOLUTION? 39

hut, makes his own weapons ; every wife digs roots, catches fish, and
carries the household goods when a change of locality is needed:
what division of labor exists is only between the sexes. We all
know that it is quite otherwise with a civilized nation. The changes
which have produced the coherence have done this by producing the
division of labor: the two going on pari passu. The great parts
and the small parts, and the parts within parts, into which a modern
society is divisible, are clusters of men made unlike in so far as they
discharge the unlike functions required for maintaining the national
life. Rural laborers and farmers, manufacturers and their work-
people, wholesale merchants and retailers, etc., etc., constitute dif-
ferentiated groups, which make a society as a whole extremely vari-
ous in composition. Not only in its industrial divisions is it various,
but also in its governmental divisions, from the components of the
legislature down through the numerous kinds and grades of officials,
down through the many classes of masters and subordinates, down
through the relations of shopkeeper and journeyman, mistress and
maid. That is to say, the change which has been taking place is,
under one aspect, a change from homogeneity of the parts to hete-
rogeneity of the parts.

A concomitant change has been from a state of vague structure,
so far as there is any, to a state of distinct structure. Even the
primary differentiation in the lowest human groups is confused and
unsettled. The aboriginal chief, merely a superior warrior, is a chief
only while war lasts — loses all distinction and power when war
ceases; and even when he becomes a settled chief, he is still so little
marked off from the rest that he carries on his hut-building, tool-
making, fishing, etc., just as the rest do. In such organization as
exists nothing is distinguished, everything is confused. Quite other-
wise is it in the developed nation. The various occupations, at
the same time that they have become multitudinous, have become
clearly specialized and sharply limited. Read the London Directory,
and while shown how numerous they are, you are shown by the
names how distinct they are. This increasing distinctness has been
shown from the early stages when all freemen were warriors, through
the days when retainers now fought and now tilled their fields, down
to the times of standing armies; or again from the recent days when
in each rural household, besides the bread-winning occupation, there
were carried on spinning, brewing, washing, to the present day when
these several supplementary occupations have been deputed to sepa-
rate classes exclusively devoted to them. It has been shown from
the ages when guilds quarreled about the things included in their
respective few businesses, down to our age when the many busi-
nesses of artisans are fenced round and disputed over if transgressed,

4 o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

as lately by boilermakers and fitters; and is again shown by the
ways in which the professions — medical, legal, and other — form
themselves into bodies which shut out from practice, if they can, all
who do not bear their stamp. And throughout the governmental
organization, from its first stage in which the same man played
various parts — legislative, executive, judicial, militant, ecclesiastic —
to late stages when the powers and functions of the multitudinous
classes of officials are clearly prescribed, may be traced this increasing
sharpness of division among the component parts of a society. That
is to sav, there has been a change from the indefinite to the definite.
While the social organization has advanced in coherence and hetero-
geneity, it has also advanced in definiteness.

If, now, Mr. Mallock will turn to First Principles, he will there
see that under its chief aspect Evolution is said to be a change from
a state of indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a state of definite,
coherent heterogeneity. If he reads further on he will find that
these several traits of evolution are successively exemplified through-
out astronomic changes, geologic changes, the changes displayed by
each organism, by the aggregate of all organisms, by the develop-
ment of the mental powers, by the genesis of societies, and by the
various products of social life — language, science, art, etc. If he
pursues the inquiry he will see that in the series of treatises (from
which astronomy and geology were for brevity's sake omitted) deal-
ing with biology, psychology, and sociology, the purpose has been to
elaborate the interpretations sketched out in First Principles ; and
that I have not been concerned in any of them to do more than
delineate those changes of structure and function which, according
to the definition, constitute Evolution. He will see that in treating
of social evolution I have dealt only with the transformation through
which the primitive small social germ has passed into the vast highly
developed nation. And perhaps he will then see that those which
he regards as all-important factors are but incidentally referred to
by me because they are but unimportant factors in this process of
transformation. The agencies which he emphasizes, and in one
sense rightly emphasizes, are not agencies by which the develop-
ment of structures and functions has been effected; they are only
agencies by which social life has been facilitated and exalted, and
aids furnished for further social evolution.

Respecting the essential causes of this social transformation, it
must suffice to say that it results from certain general traits in human
beings, joined with the influences of their varying circumstances.

Every man aims to pass from desire to satisfaction with the least
possible hindrance — follows the line of least resistance. Either the

WHAT IS SOCIAL EVOLUTION? 41

shortest path, or the path which presents fewest impediments, is that
which he chooses; and the like applies to courses of conduct at large:
he does not use great effort to satisfy a want when small effort will
do. Given his surroundings and the occupation he chooses, when
choice is possible, is that which promises a satisfactory livelihood
with the least tax on such powers as he has, bodily and mental — is
the easiest to his particular nature, all things considered. What
holds of individuals holds of masses of individuals; and hence the
inhabitants of a tract offering facilities for a particular occupation
fall into that occupation. In § 732 of the Principles of Sociology I
have given from various countries illustrations of the ways in which
local conditions determine the local industries: — instance among our-
selves mining districts where there are coal, ironstone, lead, slate;
wheat-growing districts and pastoral districts ; fruit and hop districts ;
districts for weavers, stockingers, workers in iron; places for ship-
building, importing, fishing, etc.: showing that certain sections of
the population become turned into organizations for the production
of certain commodities, without reference to the directive agency of
any man. So in each case is it with the various classes of merchants,
shopkeepers, professional men, etc., who in each of these centers
minister to those engaged in its special industries: nobody ordering
them to come or to go.

Similarly when we pass from production to distribution. As in
India at the present time, where a Juggernaut festival is accom-
panied by a vast fair; as, according to Curtius and Mommsen, in
Greece and Rome, the gatherings of people to make sacrifices to the
gods were the occasions for trading; so in Christian times, church
festivals and saints' days, drawing assemblages of people for worship,
led to active exchange of commodities — the names of the fairs prov-
ing their origin. This was not arranged by any one: it arose from
the common sense of all who wanted to sell some things and buy
others. There has been a like history for the rise of markets, and
the transition from weekly to bi-weekly, and finally to daily, markets
in respect of important things — corn, money, securities. No supe-
rior man, political or other, dictated these developments. When
barter gave place to exchange by means of a currency, the like hap-
pened. One wanting to dispose of surplus goods, meeting those who
had no personal need for such goods, took in exchange certain
things in universal demand, which he knew he would be able to pass
on in like manner — in early stages articles of food, of warmth, of
defense, of ornament; and from such articles arose in each case
a currency — here dried fish, there tea-bricks, and in other cases
skins, bundles of cotton, here standard bars of rock salt, there stand-
ard bars of iron, in one place definite lengths of cloth, and in an-

TOL. LIV,

42 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

other fine mats, and in many places ornaments and the materials for
ornaments: which last, gold and silver, being relatively portable,
passed into wide use. These precious metals were at first in quanti-
ties actually weighed; then in quantities of professed weight; and
finally in quantities bearing the king's stamp as being the most
trustworthy. No great man — political, industrial, or other — in-
vented this system. It has everywhere resulted from men's efforts
to satisfy their needs in the easiest ways. So was it with the transi-
tion from a currency of intrinsic value to one of representative value.
When, instead of a direct payment in coin, there came to be used a
memorandum of indebtedness to be presently discharged, which
could be transferred to others — when, as in Italy, to save the weigh-
ing and testing of miscellaneous coins, there arose the practice of
depositing specified quantities with a custodian and having from
him negotiable receipts — when, as in England, the merchants, after
having been robbed by the king of their valuables, left for security
in the Tower, sought safer places, and, depositing them in the vaults
of goldsmiths, received in return " goldsmiths' notes," which could
pass from hand to hand; there was initiated a paper-currency.
Goldsmiths developed into bankers; after central banks there arose
provincial banks; promises to pay became to a great extent substi-
tutes for actual payments; and presently grew up the supplementary
system of checks, extensively serving in place of coin and notes.
Finally, bank-clerks in London, instead of presenting to the respec-
tive banks the many and various claims upon them, met and ex-
changed these claims and settled the balance : whence presently came
the clearing house. No superior man arranged all this. Each further
stage was prompted by the desire to economize labor. Erom primi-
tive fairs up to the daily transactions of the money market, distribu-
tion and exchange have developed without the dictation of any great
man, either of Mr. Carlyle's sort or of Mr. Mallock's sort. It has
been so throughout all other arrangements subserving national life,
even the governmental. Though here at least it seems that the
individual will and power play the largest part, yet it is otherwise.
I do not merely refer to the fact that without loyalty in citizens a
ruler can have no power; and that so the supremacy of a man
intrinsically or conventionally great is an outcome of the average
nature; but I refer to the fact that governmental evolution is essen-
tially a result of social necessities. On tracing its earliest stages
from savage life upwards, it becomes manifest that even a ministry is
not the mere invention of a king. It arises everywhere from that
augmentation of business which goes along with increase of territory
and authority: entailing the necessity for deputing more and more
work. Under its special aspect it seems to be wholly a result of the

WHAT IS SOCIAL EVOLUTION? 43

king's private action, but under its general aspect it is seen to be
determined by the conditions of bis existence. And it is so with
governmental institutions at large. Without tracing these further
it will suffice to quote the saying of Macintosh — " Constitutions are
not made but grow."

Of course inequalities of nature and consequent inequalities of
relative position are factors in social changes. Of course, as implied
above, any assertion of the approximate equality of human beings,
save in the sense that they are beings having sets of faculties common
to them all, is absurd; and it is equally absurd to suppose that the
unlikenesses which exist are without effects on social life. I have
pointed out that in the earliest stages of social evolution, when war
is the business of life, the supremacy of a leader or chief, or primitive
king, is a fact of cardinal importance; and also that the initiator of
ecclesiastical control is necessarily distinguished from others " by
knowledge and intellectual capacity." The beginnings of industrial
evolution are also ascribed by me to differences of individual capa-
city; as instance the following quotations from that part of the
Principles of Sociology which deals with Industrial Institutions.

The natural selection of occupations has for its primary cause certain
original differences between individuals, partly physical, partly psychical.
Let us for brevity's sake call this the physio-psychological cause (§ 730).

That among the fully civilized there are in like manner specializations
of function caused by natural aptitudes, needs no showing : professions
and crafts are often thus determined . . . occupations of relatively skilled
kinds having fallen into the hands of the most intelligent (§ 731).

Speaking generally, the man who, among primitive peoples, becomes
ruler, is at once a man of power and a man of sagacity: his sagacity being
in large measure the cause of his supremacy. We may therefore infer that
as his political rule, though cbiefly guided by his own interests, is in part
guided by the interests of his people, so his industrial rule, though having
for its first end to enrich himself, has for its second end the prosperity of
industry at large. It is a fair inference that on the average his greater
knowledge expresses itself in orders which seem, and sometimes are, bene-
ficial (§ 770).

In its beginnings slavery commonly implies some kind of inferiority
(§ 795).

Considered as a form of industrial regulation, slavery has been natural
to early stages of conflicts and consolidations (§ 800).

The rise of slavery exhibits in its primary form the differentiation of the
regulative part of a society from the operative part (§ 798).

The recognition of these effects of individual differences, especially
in early stages, may rightly go along with the assertion that all the
large traits of social structure are otherwise determined — that all
those great components of a society which carry on the various in-

44 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

dustries, making the life of the whole possible, all those specialized
classes which have established and maintained the inter-dependence
of the producing structures, by facilitating and regulating the
exchange of their products, have arisen from the play of aggregate
forces, constituted of men's desires directed by their respective sets
of circumstances. Mr. Mallock alleges that the great fact of human
inequality — the fact that there is a minority " more gifted and
efficient than the majority " — is the fundamental fact from which
"the main structural characteristics of all civilized societies spring."*
That he should assert this in presence of all the evidence which the
Principles of Sociology puts before him, is, to use the weakest
word, surprising. If his assertion be true, however, the way of
demonstrating its truth lies open before him. In volumes II. and
III. of the Principles of Sociology, several groups of institutions,
presented by every developed society, are dealt with under the heads,
Political, Ecclesiastical, Professional, Industrial: seventy-one chap-
ters being included in them. Each chapter treats of some aspect,
some division or subdivision, of the phenomena grouped under the
general head. Instead of the Industrial Institutions discussed above,
suppose that Mr. Mallock takes a group not touched upon — Profes-
sional Institutions. The thesis worked out in the part so entitled is
that all the professions are differentiated from the priesthood; and
the differentiation is tacitly represented as due to the slow operation
of those natural causes which lead to specializations of function
throughout the whole social aggregate. If Mr. Mallock is right, then
of the chapters dealing with the ten professions enumerated, each is
wrong by omitting to say anything about the great man, political,
industrial, or other, who set up the differentiation or from time to
time consciously gave it a more pronounced character — who thought
that it would be well that there should be a separate medical class,
or a separate teaching class, or a separate artist class, and then carried
his thought into effect. Mr. Mallock's course is simply to take each
of these chapters and show how, by the recognition of the supple-
mentary factor on which he insists, the conclusions of the chapter are
transformed. If he does this he will do more than by merely assert-
ing that my views of social evolution are wrong because the " great
fact of human inequality ' : " is systematically and ostentatiously
ignored."

If in his title Mr. Mallock had, instead of " Evolution," written
Social Sustentation, the general argument of his book would have
been valid. If, further, he had alleged that social sustentation is

* Nineteenth Century, pp. 314, 315.

WHAT IS SOCIAL EVOLUTION? 45

instrumental to social evolution, and that in the absence of processes
facilitating social sustentation social evolution can not take place, no
one could have gainsaid his conclusion. And if he had inferred that
whoever improves these processes betters the conditions which favor
social evolution, his inference would have been true. But this admis-
sion may be made without admitting that the men who directly or
indirectly further sustentation, or who improve the quality of the
social units, are the agents who determine and direct social evolution.
An account of their doings in no way constitutes an account of that
social transformation from an indefinite incoherent homogeneity to
a definite coherent heterogeneity, in which the evolution of a society
essentially consists.

Moreover Mr. Mallock is justified in contending that the great
man — discoverer, inventor, teacher, administrator, or other — may
equitably receive all the reward which, under the principle of con-
tract, flows to him as the result of his superiority ; and that disregard
of his claim by the mass of men is alike inequitable and ungrateful.
This is the position I have myself taken, as witness the following : —

Even were an invention of no benefit to society unless thrown open to
unbought use, there would still be no just ground for disregarding the in-
ventor's claim ; any more than for disregarding the claim of one who
labors on his farm for his own benefit and not for public benefit. But as it
is, society unavoidably gains immensely more than the inventor gains.
Before he can receive any advantage from his new process or apparatus, he
must confer advantages on his fellow men — must either supply them with
a better article at the price usually charged, or the same article at a lower
price. If he fails to do this, his invention is a dead letter ; if he does it, he
makes over to the world at large nearly all the new mine of wealth he has
opened. By the side of the profits which came to Watt from his patents,
place the profits which his improvements in the steam-engine have since
brought to his own nation and to all nations, and it becomes manifest that
the inventor's share is infinitesimal compared with the share mankind
takes. And yet there are not a few who would appropriate even his infini-
tesimal share ! *

Had Mr. Mallock recognized the fundamental distinction I have
pointed out between social sustentation, life, activity, enlightenment,
etc., on the one hand, and the development of social structures on the
other, his polemic against socialists and collectivists would have been
equally effective, and he would not have entailed upon me an ex-
penditure of time and energy which I can ill spare. — The Nineteenth
Century.

* Justice, pp. 110, 111.

°ss

* -*•'*' >v

-LliHARYJf

46 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

THE TORRENTS OF SWITZERLAND.

By EDGAR E. DAWSON, M. E.

MARK TWAIN once said that he was in constant expectation
in Switzerland of seeing a farmer fall out of his farm.
The farmer has in many cases appreciated his hazardous position
when harvesting his crops, and has put on crampoons to prevent
a precipitous trip into the valley below. The crampoons prevent
the farmer leaving his farm in such an undignified manner, but they
do not prevent that same farm leaving its position on the mountain
side. To show how, in many cases, the mountain sides are kept
intact is the object of this paper. The old simile, " I am as sure of it
as of the ground on which I stand," would be as much out of place
in some parts of Switzerland as in those parts of the world where
earthquakes are endemic. In fact, in these latter places, though the
surface may receive a good shaking, it generally returns to somewhat
the same neighborhood after its nervous peregrinations are over. Not
so with the Swiss mountain side. When part of the mountain takes
leave of the rest, it is forever.

Switzerland is often spoken of somewhat derisively as a garden,
so perfectly have its pleasure grounds been laid out, and so completely
comfortable does one find one's self in the midst of Nature's grand-
eurs. If its water courses had not been controlled and cared for as
are those of a well-conducted park it would be chaos! The con-
stant and vigilant struggle the Swiss have been forced to maintain
against the liquid element is much to their credit, for they have
generally been victorious. They have spent enormous sums of
money in keeping their torrents and rivers within reasonable limits,
and are even now, at times, forced to suppress new insurrections
on the part of these irresponsible agents. The corrections of the
water courses have been necessary for several reasons. In the first
place, the erosions on the mountain sides result in deposits which
present different inconveniences, of which I shall speak later. In the
second place, the erosions are frequently the cause of landslides.
The work of regulating the action of the water courses is now done
according to accepted rules based on experience and on theories which
have been confirmed by facts. Years ago, before the confederation
took charge of this matter, it was done often in a haphazard, em-
pirical fashion by the local authorities, with or without the aid of an
engineer. But some great disasters in the canton of Grisons
awakened the people to what might occur to many of them who had
hitherto been more fortunate. At the end of September, 1868, both
slopes of the Alps, and particularly the cantons of Valais and

THE TORRENTS OF SWITZERLAND.

47

Grisons, were visited by floods of enormous magnitude. Such, was the
devastation caused that an appeal was made to the generosity of the
nation at large in behalf of the sufferers. This was responded to
with such liberality that a large portion of the sum subscribed was
put aside for the purpose of improving the water courses perma-
nently. The fact that collective action was necessary in the attempts
to control the turbulent streams became very apparent. This being
the case, the state was called upon to take charge of this colossal en-
terprise. In July, 1871, by federal decree, the confederation de-
clared that the correction and extinction of torrents was a matter of
public utility, and worthy of the subsidies of the national Govern-
ment. At the same time the relative burdens of the cantons and the
confederation were settled. The importance of the improvement of
the water courses and of the wooding of the regions where they rise
was recognized in the Constitution of 1874. There the matter was
definitely put under federal control and classed with the allied ques-
tion of theVonservation of the forests. The problem of keeping the
waters under control in Switzerland ranges from the marshy low-
lands to the summits of the passes. In spite of the varying condi-
tions that this range entails, there are certain general principles that
bear on all cases where the water is in movement. As the Swiss sup-
plies his want of coal by harnessing his streams, so he makes the
water do a large share of the work of correcting its erring ways
and preparing itself to be harnessed. This he does by utilizing its
power of carrying or depositing stones and soil, according as it is held
within narrow banks or allowed to roam at will. As this power de-
pends also on the steepness of the slope down which it runs, he uses
this latter factor as well.

When he has got the water courses into what he considers
good working condition and one that should be permanent, he tries
to clinch matters. This is done \j so combining the various condi-
tions of cross-section, slope, and quality of soil that the action of
the water is automatic — that is, it brings down no more earth and
stones than it is capable of carrying below to safer places where the
dangers of floods are small. Whenever the force with which the
water moves along is stronger than the cohesion of the soil, erosion
occurs. This erosion will continue, the channel of the stream be-
coming ever deeper, until a soil is encountered whose resistance is
equal to the erosive action of the water. As the alluvion is carried
on, the slope of the stream will become steeper and steeper the higher
one goes. This circumstance would be of much greater importance
if the gorges and gullies in which most of the streams run were not
so well provided with rock. The power of the water to cause erosion
is lessened in proportion to the amount of material it is carrying with

48 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

it, which material is generally the product of previous erosions.
Whenever the current needs all its strength to carry the material it
has in suspension, together with the solid matter it is pushing along,
it will have lost all its power to cause erosion. If the slope is de-
creased, or if the matter in suspension is increased in any manner,
deposits will occur. These deposits render the slope less steep at that
point but steeper below, so that the action of the water beyond will
make itself felt, and by digging gradually up stream tend to restore
the original slope.

In some cases there is very little erosion where the current is
much stronger than the cohesive power of the soil, for the reason
that the beds of the streams have been almost paved with stones that
have been carried along by the propulsive action of the water.

This has in many cases produced an equilibrium between the
resistance and the destroying power; in others the equilibrium has
been brought about in a different way by the same natural agents.
The current of a stream will very often go on causing erosion until
arrested by some rocky obstacle that determines a waterfall. These
falls cause breaks in the action of the water not only in stopping the
erosive action in its upward march, but also in checking the velocity
of the water. Then, as basins are often formed just above the falls
and where the current is much less swift, matter in suspension is
deposited, so that when the stream is swollen it has material to
work upon, before starting to make the original slope steeper.

The subject divides itself broadly into two branches — the extinc-
tion of torrents and the correction of the water courses in valleys.
In the extinction of the torrents various plans are resorted to,
which give the current greater propulsive power, but at the same time
they render necessary greater protection of the bed. This may be
done by incasing it within walls of masonry (though other materials
are used in some cases) or shortening meandering portions. In the
latter plan the slope is increased, the fall being the same for a shorter
distance. Currents that have been making dangerous deposits at cer-
tain points and causing dangerous erosions at others are treated by
the above systems until the danger has disappeared or the money
has given out. When the erosive action of the water is already too
great, the material carried and then deposited by the stream is often
made use of to consolidate banks that are threatened. Spurs are
built out from such banks, and this tends to mend matters not only
in forcing the water to take another channel, but also in causing
deposits at the foot of the menaced bank.

The destructive effects of the current are arrested when the
streams are not important by means of dams made of trunks of trees
and wooden stakes, often strengthened roughly with stones. Where

THE TORRENTS OF SWITZERLAND. 49

the streams are larger, and where the erosive action can not be modi-
fied by enlarging the channel, as is the case in many gorges, it is
necessary to make an artificial bed for the stream and at times to
supplement this by masonry dams. The dams are not permanent
in their effects, for as soon as the basin immediately above the dam
has been filled with deposits and the original slope of the stream
has re-established itself, the products of the erosion pass over the
dam. They prove, however, of great utility at times of large freshets
by causing deposits which are subsequently carried down in much
smaller quantities. This prevents the disasters that would be caused
by sudden enormous deposits when the streams are swollen.

The prospect for many a narrow valley would be a sad one in-
deed if means had not been taken to prevent the lateral erosions so
common with the mountain torrents and so productive of land-
slips. Where the stream has provided itself with a stony bed on
which to roll, it often tries to do damage by leaving the stones and
attacking the earthy banks. It is in these cases that the danger has
proved so insidious; for until disasters actually occurred, in many
instances, the undermining effect of the water was not suspected,
being entirely hidden from view.

The most economical way of combating such cases is by mak-
ing use of those points that by their formation arrest the erosive
action. This is done by re-enforcing them in such manner as to pro-
duce a series of natural steps. The upward march of the excavating
action of the water is stopped at least partially and temporarily at
each step. Such a method is of great advantage when it is necessary
to delay a more costly correction for financial reasons.

The experience gained since a connected system was begun in the
management of the water courses has been of incalculable value, and
many have been the landslips arrested and prevented by seeking
their causes in the hidden erosive action of a small stream. In still
another manner does the water threaten the mountain sides, and
that is by permeating the soil (which is thus rendered much heavier),
until it reaches a bed of rock or other layer that it can not penetrate.
There it forms a layer of slippery mud on which the soil above slides
bodily down. The method pursued in such cases is sometimes that of
a ditch dug to the impermeable layer, sometimes that of a drain.
In both cases there may or may not be small feeding ditches. An-
other plan which appears very contradictory of what has just been
said is also employed. This consists in preventing, by means of hori-
zontal trenches, the water from flowing off on the surface in the re-
gions above the timber line. The water is forced to percolate through
the soil and so reaches the wooded portions, where it would per-
meate anyhow, much more gradually than otherwise. The soil thus

5 o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

escapes the enormous increase of pressure due to the sudden absorp-
tion of great quantities of water, and consequently is less in danger
of leaving its fastenings.

One of the most difficult of the problems that these torrents
give rise to is that of their control where they suddenly enter a
valley, and where the slope is consequently greatly decreased. The
decrease of current entailed causes the deposit of stones and material
at the mouth of the gorge, and the water then spreads itself over
the valley. This occurs more or less regularly with certain torrents
that are usually dry and where it is impracticable to prevent the
erosions above. It then becomes necessary to build a stone canal
from the mouth of the gorge to the principal water course of the
valley. As this must be built on the alluvion (which presents the
surface of a cone), it is often higher than the rest of the valley,
and one may find other small canals for the draining of the val-
ley passing under the larger one and meeting the principal stream
below. A similar action to that of the torrent on entering the
valley is that of a stream with a rapid current emptying into one
whose current is slower. Here the deposits will at times force the
smaller stream to seek another channel, and it frequently occurs
that the correction moves the mouth of the stream a considerable dis-
tance.

The manner in which the streams in the valleys are made to aid
in their own correction is most interesting. Whereas in the moun-
tains it is usually desirable to decrease the erosive action of the
water, in the valleys the contrary is the case, as the deposits in the
lowlands are as dangerous to life and property as was their abstraction
above. The great desideratum to be attained is to have the mountain
streams arrive in the valleys in a purely liquid condition, and to give
the valley streams the power to carry to the lakes any material they
may be so unfortunate as to have taken in charge. To accomplish
this latter purpose, the sinuosities of the streams are often reduced
to straight lines, an increase of slope being thus secured. The new
channels are made of a cross-section to enable the water to carry on
its alluvion and silt. Where great freshets occur it is necessary to
guarantee the artificial beds against the enormous increase of the
water's destructive action.

The usual plan is that of having the cross-section of the stream
with a deep depression in the center. This depression is of di-
mensions to insure a proper flow under ordinary conditions. When
the stream becomes swollen it overflows the borders of this depres-
sion and spreads over a much larger area until the banks proper are
encountered. This sudden increase of cross-section reduces the
velocity of the water and consequently its destructive power. When

THE TORRENTS OF SWITZERLAND. 51

the water of a stream is turned from its old channel into the new one
that has been prepared for it, the operation is generally very gradu-
ally performed, so as to enable the water to fill up the old bed as
much as possible by depositing its silt.

A plan pursued with much success is that of building out from
the high bank of a stream (which it is desired to confine into a nar-
rower channel) insubmersible spurs, stopping at the points where the
new bank is to be situated. The water flowing in between these
spurs deposits its dirt and gravel, and gradually builds up the new
bank. In many cases the ends of the spurs are connected by low
artificial banks of masonry over which the water flows. These banks
retain and protect the deposits, and, when the latter have attained a
sufficient depth, the artificial banks are raised to their permanent
height. Still another method pursued with the same object in view
is that of starting up stream and building the banks to their per-
manent height until a point is reached where it is desired to " fill."
Here the artificial banks are left temporarily very low. The water
overflows them, and the reduction of its velocity entails the deposit
of its silt. When this has continued as long as necessary or prac-
ticable, the walls are raised to their permanent height along the
section and the same process is repeated below. This gradual process
is also very advantageous from a financial point of view. When the
engineer finally reaches the mouth of the stream at one of the lakes,
we should expect to find his difficulties at an end, as the lakes are
usually so deep that the alluvion makes little impression on them,
and their areas are such that floods are not much to be feared. But
he is confronted here with a new difficulty, that of anchoring or
securing the foundation of his artificial river bank. The soil is
generally alluvial over a large area, and is very damp. He generally
has to terminate the masonry before he reaches the less stable alluvial
soil and continue the structure by means of wooden material, which
retains its position much better under such circumstances and is
more cheaply replaced. It would be natural to imagine that man's
control of the water problem stops at this point. But not so with the
Swiss; he even controls its exit from some of the lakes. This is
notably the case at Geneva, where by means of ingenious dams the
lake is maintained at what is deemed a proper level. When it is
remembered that this lake is fifty miles long by ten broad, an idea is
gained of the amount of water controlled. Every few years the
level is lowered for a given period, so that repairs may be made to the
walls and structures along the shores.

52 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

THE EVOLUTION OF COLONIES.

By JAMES COLLIER.
V.— POLITICAL EVOLUTION.

THE law that the evolution of a colony repeats the evolution of
the parent state would here be logically applied to the history
of the relations between colonies and the mother country. These
would be shown to have followed a similar course, though with new
developments, to those of the mother country with her suzerain; and
they would be carried further back and deeper down to those uni-
versal animal processes of lactation and rearing which they con-
tinue and which explain them. The gradual settlement of a new
country would next be exhibited as a repetition (with necessary
modifications) of the settlement of the mother country, because
guided by the same general laws — that it dispossesses an earlier race,
which had followed quadrupeds and birds, which had followed trees,
shrubs, and grasses, which again had sown themselves along geo-
graphical lines. Chapters on both topics are unavoidably omitted.
The law has now to be applied to the political, industrial, and social
evolution of colonies. In so wide a subject only apergus are possible.
There are traces in several colonies of a state anterior to the
establishment of a settled government. According to the unloving
Hobbes, such a state is necessarily one of war, and it is sometimes
that; according to the humane Rousseau, it is one of peace, and, to
the credit of human nature, it is oftener that. There were English
settlers in Pennsylvania before the Swedes arrived. The first immi-
grants to Plymouth found predecessors on the coast who owed no
allegiance. Seventy years after the foundation of North Carolina
the inhabitants still led the lives of freemen in the woods. Prior
to 1702 New Jersey was considered one of those provinces " where
no regular government had been established." The Tasmanian
farmers who colonized Victoria lived for some time without any
form of government, and lived peacefully. Pastoralists were found
on the Canterbury plains before the advent of the Pilgrims, and
were content. When the Pilgrims got into collision with the cen-
tral government, they said bitterly that they would do better with
none. Where it is otherwise the circumstances are exceptional.
Gold and silver fields everywhere are at first, and often to the last,
scenes of wild disorder, where a man's safety depends on his ability
to defend himself. Escaped Australian convicts, runaway sailors,
adventurers, and natives made up a community which turned the
natural paradise of the Bay of Islands into an earthly hell. Parts
of Texas in very recent days were the seat of anarchy. Government

THE EVOLUTION OF COLONIES. 53

soon arrives on the spot in the shape of the Texas Rangers, the
Draconian gold-fields mounted police, or a royal governor. Or an
organized body of immigrants absorbs previous settlers and evolves
from within itself all the agencies of government. On one or other
of these two types all colonial societies have been built up. The
patriarchal theory of Filmer is realized in those colonies — the great
majority — where the government is clothed with power delegated
by the sovereign of the mother country. The socialist theory of
Locke is embodied in the New England colonies; in the Carolina
" Association " of 1719; in the resolutions of the Liberal Association
of Canada in 1841, which issued in the compact between the crown
and the Canadian people; in the New Zealand whalers in 1840, gov-
erned by their own laws ; in the New Zealand Company's settlements
(with a social contract previously drawn up by the passengers, as by
those of the Mayflower); and in the colonies of Otago and Canter-
bury, and New Australia in Paraguay. Two intermediate groups
have a transitional existence. Many colonies have been founded
by commercial companies whose collective history might be written
in two lines — inception of vast enterprises, partial commercial suc-
cess, great collateral benefits, ruinous loss of capital, surrender of
charter to the crown. A set of colonies peculiar to the United
States were established by one or more proprietaries, from whose
voluntary concessions the form of government was derived, but most
of these merged, after a series of conflicts, in the popular group.
They were respectively bastard royal and bastard charter colonies.
From the origin of a colony is deducible its whole political and
social structure. Colonies of royal foundation, by a kind of moral
pangenesis, tend to reproduce all parts of the mother country that are
suitable to the new environment — its inequalities of rank, governors
who are the image of the sovereign, an executive, legislative, and
judicature that are the delegation of his authority. But these institu-
tions must grow; they can not be made. The attempt to create
an aristocracy in Carolina, and the proposal to manufacture one in
New South Wales, necessarily failed. Yet in both countries one
grew or is growing up. In the South there was an untitled aristoc-
racy, with the aristocratic temper, exclusive institutions, and four
distinct classes (the descendants of the lords of the manor, villeins or
tenants, bond-servants, and slaves, who had a brief existence in Vir-
ginia, Carolina, and Maryland) — planters, overseers, mean whites,
and negro slaves; the fall of Richmond saw the happy ending of all
that. In the British colonies, as in England, there is an increasing
passion for titles, and of about sixty grades in the Byzantine hier-
archy of the English monarchy at least eleven have been transplanted
to colonial soil. But it is on one condition, abroad as at home —

54 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

that honor shall be divorced from power. In England the nobliity is
being edged out of office, and on Lord Salisbury's grave might be
written, " The last of the nobles " — the last who governed his coun-
try. In her colonies one premier after another resolutely refuses
the forbidden dignity that would banish him from the ministerial
Eden. The same point has been reached in the United States from
the opposite side. Most of the charter and some of the proprietary
colonies developed into republican societies, with political equality as
their badge, a popular legislature, an elected judiciary, and a half-
elected executive. Side by side with this democracy of power there
has grown up in the great cities — Philadelphia, Boston, New York
— an aristocracy of blood, culture, or dollars. This aristocracy of
fashion — as in France and England, so in the United States and
(on a small scale) in Australia — consoles itself for lifelong exclusion
from public affairs by addicting itself to literature, art, philanthropy,
and such like. But these are only its recreations. Its chief use is to
exist, to exhibit the civilization of a people at its flower, to give'
pleasure to others and to itself. The proportion of this element to
the rest of the population will measure the age of the community.

The core of the executive is the governor. The governor of the
monarchical colonies is the deputy of the sovereign, and the story of
his authority is the story in brief of the royal prerogative. The
governors of the Spanish colonies arrogated and abused a power far
more despotic than a Spanish king's. The French Governor of Illi-
nois ruled with absolute sway. The first Governor of New South
Wales exercised unparalleled powers. He could inflict five hundred
lashes and impose a five-hundred-pound fine; could sentence to
death, execute, or pardon. He regulated trade. He fixed prices,
wages, and customs duties. All the labor in the colony was at his
disposal. He could bestow grants of land. He appointed to all
offices of honor or emolument. The administration of justice was
exclusively in his hands. The colonists were his subjects. He was
practically irresponsible. Thus an Anglo-Saxon community can
take on the characters of an Oriental satrapy. It can also become a
military despotism. For some years after the departure of one
governor and the deposition of another the government of the
colony was in the hands, or under the feet, of the officers of the
New South Wales Corps, who ruled it as the Sultan rules Turkey.
The stage of pure absolutism, which is necessitated in a colony, as in
the mother country, by the existence of a small band of immigrants
in the midst of a hostile indigenous population, or of a small number
of free settlers among a convict populace, is succeeded by that of
limited absolutism. The authority of the governor is checked by the
appointment of a council. Most of the early North American crown

THE EVOLUTION OF COLONIES. 55

colonies were at this stage. It answers to England under the later
Tudors, and, as there, left ample scope for oppression. Occasionally
it blossomed or withered into prodigies of tyranny on a small scale,
as in the too celebrated Andros. Sir James Craig, so lately as the
beginning of the nineteenth century, treated his Canadian Parlia-
ment as superciliously as a Stuart. In New Zealand there were con-
tinual complaints that a certain governor had more absolute power
than a sovereign. In South Australia and South Africa the same
governor ruled like an emperor, his council not thwarting but
aggrandizing his authority. This second preconstitutional stage is
often unduly prolonged in colonies, as it commonly is in the mother
country, on the pretext of an enemy on the frontier or of troubles
with the natives, but really because of the forceful character of a
governor who is unwilling to lay down the dignity he may not have
been overwilling to take up. Its persistence in the North American
colonies can only be explained on Haeckel's principle that the devel-
opment of ancestral species is followed in the development of the
embryo. Despotism in the Old World was the parent of despotism
in the New. There is no other reason why colonies ripe for self-
government, like Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia, should
have been oppressed by such men as Andros, Cornbury, and Harvey.
The stage is ended by the granting of a constitution or by a successful
rebellion. The governor's personal force will then be the measure
of his power. The sagacious and resolute Lord Elgin asserted that
he had twice the authority in constitutional Canada that he had
enjoyed in Jamaica. Such a governor is the colonial analogue of
Queen Victoria, who, in consequence of her association with the
Prince Consort, the length of her reign, and her strong character, has
prolonged monarchical influence. But the day of such sovereigns
is passing; the day of such governors is past. The office is by no
means shorn of its prerogatives. The governor, like the sovereign,
selects his prime minister, and the act may have serious conse-
quences; the appeal of the minister for election as leader by his
party shows the blending of the popular with the monarchical strain,
but it is little more than formal. As George III in 1783, and
William IV in 1834, arbitrarily dismissed the Whigs, a Governor
of Newfoundland in 1861 dismissed his ministry; in 1858 the
Governor of New South Wales had resolved to dismiss his; and it is
not many months since Mr. Rhodes was cashiered. Like the sover-
eign, the governor sometimes refuses to grant a dissolution. Like the
Governor General of Canada last year, or the Governor of New
Zealand a few years ago, he may refuse to appoint senators — success-
fully in the one case or only to be bowled over by the Colonial
Office in the other. Beyond these real but rarely exercised preroga-

5 6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

tives lie has little else to do than sign his ministers' documents. He
ought to interfere in certain cabinet crises, but dares not. His power,
like that of the sovereign, is reduced to a shadow. The premier of
the colony is now its working king.

As the governor's authority wanes, his dignity waxes. After
1632 a viceroy of high rank was sent to ]STew Spain. In 1867 Dis-
raeli, half genius and half charlatan, commenced a policy of ostenta-
tion by announcing that only those would in future be appointed
colonial governors who had been " born in the purple," or were peers,
and notwithstanding two or three Liberal reactions the policy has
been confirmed, in regard to all the more important colonies, by the
demands of the colonists. On arriving in his dominions the new
ruler has a royal reception. He becomes the head of the ceremonial
system in the colony, and if he ceases to govern he reigns (according
to Bagehot's theory of the monarchy) by impressing the popular
imagination. And as loyalty to the Queen is passing into loyalty to
the imperial tradition, so is loyalty to her representative being trans-
muted into the pride of imperial connection.

The governor completes the parallel with sovereignty by under-
going all its vicissitudes. As monarchs have abdicated, been im-
prisoned, banished, restored, tried, and beheaded, colonial governors
have resigned, been imprisoned, expelled, recalled, restored, im-
peached, dismissed, and hanged, and in both sets of cases for similar
reasons. They have resigned because of ill usage at the hands of
their ministers, because things were done in their absence of which
they disapproved, or because they were entrapped into approving of
their ministers' wrongdoing. La Bourdonnais was sent to the Bas-
tille, Andros was imprisoned for tyranny in Massachusetts, and in
North Carolina it was the " common practice " to resist and imprison
their governors. Depositions were frequent in the North American
colonies. An oppressive Governor of Virginia was banished to Eng-
land, but sent back; a Governor of New South Wales was deposed
for rectitude by a military mutiny and shipped to Tasmania; a Gov-
ernor of New Zealand was placed on board a ship for England be-
cause he had excited the ill will of a powerful company, and had in-
discreetly realized the dream of free traders by making the colony a
free port. As Pericles dreaded being ostracized, early Governors of
New South Wales feared being placed under arrest. Recall is the
sentence that governors of British colonies had most to shun in the
days when they were still irresponsible. The first four Governors
of Australia, and possibly the sixth, were lied out of office. One
was recalled because of the financial embarrassments of his colony
and his own devotion to science; another, on the better grounds of
tyranny and red tape. A Governor of the Cape of Good Hope was

THE EVOLUTION OF COLONIES. 57

recalled because he was unpopular. Another governor of that colony
was recalled for incorrigible insubordination, and again, when he
had been pardoned and sent to a more distant colony, for hopeless
incompatibility. How so serious a step may be contrived by a mere
clerk in the Colonial Office may be read in the autobiography of Sir
Henry Taylor, who procured the recall of an obnoxious governor
by submitting to a compliant Secretary of State a dispatch recall-
ing him. An outbreak of public indignation, like that against
Governor Eyre, may be needed to bring about the same result.
Dupleix and Frontenac fell before the machinations of their enemies,
and the former was allowed to die in misery. Hastings was im-
peached. Articles equivalent to impeachment were drawn up against
a Governor of New South Wales, who, like Clive, suffered the indig-
nity of having his administration scrutinized by a committee of the
House of Commons. Lastly, as a single English king was brought to
the block, so has a single governor, and he the creature of an insur-
rection, expiated his rebellion on the scaffold.

The election of governors recalls the election of Frankish kings,
but really repeats that of the governors of commercial companies;
how powerful such elected functionaries may become is shown by
the chairman of an English railway company and the American boss.
Leaders like Smith or Winthrop, Cargill of Otago, or Godley of
Canterbury, who give to young colonies cohesion and the power to
survive, or carry them through perils, are their rulers by indefeasible
sovereignty; in form they may, as in Massachusetts, be only the
presidents of the company out of which the colony has sprung. Re-
elected for twenty years, like Winthrop, or thirteen, like Endicott,
they may confer on the office a duration equal to that of inheritance,
and may show an independence greater than a hereditary or an
appointed officer can safely assume. Creators of colonies, like Balti-
more, Penn, and Oglethorpe, repeat a type that must be rare in his-
tory, if indeed they do not originate the noblest of all types of ruler,
and are kings by a diviner right than that of any known sovereign.

The governor being the brain (or the active portion of the brain)
of the body politic, the administration is his limbs, and expands
from him with such improvements as new circumstances permit and
such modifications as they require, in the same manner as it had
done from the sovereign in the mother country. Not that each
colony passes through all the stages through which the latter pass;
that depends on the date at which the colony was given off. Massa-
chusetts and Virginia alone of the North American colonies, New
South Wales and Tasmania alone of the Australasian, described
most of them ; in the younger colonies the earlier ones were dropped.
Thus (to mention a single point) the office of Colonial Secretary

VOL. LIV. — 5

58 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

(who was originally the governor's secretary, as the Secretary for
Ireland, till the other clay, was only the Lord Lieutenant's secretary)
differentiates into several ministries, as the department of Secretary
of State had differentiated in England. An anomaly is worth noting.
In the United States, where the whole people is the fountain of
power, the ministers are the servants of the President, appointed and
dismissed by him. In England, while they are still in theory her
Majesty's ministers, and the Prime Minister is nominally selected
by the sovereign, by a remarkable transformation they have become
the servants of the legislature — that is, of the people. The two
countries have exchanged institutions, as Hamlet and Laertes ex-
changed rapiers. The explanation is historical. The United States
parted from the development of Britain at a time when the execu-
tive was, far more than now, independent of the legislature and
dependent on the sovereign. The framers of the Constitution of the
United States, looking at the British Constitution from without, and
ignoring the subtle checks and balances that gave the lie to Montes-
quieu's too rigid trichotomy, petrified a still developing system, and
dug a gulf between the executive and the legislature. But in
England, with the growing weakness of the crown and the growing
strength of the legislature, the ministers have gone over to the
popular side. The younger British colonies were founded at a time
when this development was already far advanced, and they have
repeated the evolution. A curious consequence ensues. While in
a monarchical country and its colonies a manifestation of public
opinion can in a week bring the most powerful ministry to its knees,
the President and ministers of a popularly governed country pursue
their irresponsible course in apparent indifference to either pulpit
or press.

A similar cleavage divides the legislative structure. The gov-
ernor of crown colonies, like the sovereign, is at first the sole, and
through his ministers to the last the chief, legislator; the legislature
is created by concessions wrung from him, and its history is the
record of successive limitations of his authority. In charter colonies
the legislature is the creation of the people, and the laws are made
by its deputies. A single tolerably perfect example of each type is
chosen. The early history of New South Wales is one of the best
preserved specimens in the museum of political paleontology. Dur-
ing its earliest years the governor was as absolute as the first Norman
sovereigns. William Rufus might ask: " You Taillebois, what have
you to propose in this arduous matter? . . . Potdevin, what is your
opinion of the measure? " And Philip, hunter or king, might as
unceremoniously solicit the advice of the chaplain or the commander
of the forces, but they were under no obligation to take it; and the

THE EVOLUTION OF COLONIES. 59

earliest laws, like the capitularies of Charlemagne, were public
orders or proclamations. Under the sixth governor, when civilian
officials had arrived, his authority received its first limitation: a
small council was instituted, consisting of the chief justice, the
attorney general, and the archdeacon of Sydney. A few years
later the council was enlarged by the inclusion of new officials, and
an equal number of unofficial citizens, who were, however, nomi-
nated by the crown. So far, we are still in the twelfth English
century. In 1828 began fourteen years of agitation for an elective
council, and with 1842 we arrive at the colonial Magna Charta. The
concession had hardly been made when, with the influx of fresh
settlers, another agitation for all the rights of self-government was
begun. It was complicated with the convict question, as the politics
of the United States was long complicated with the slavery ques-
tion, but was not settled with, though it may have been accelerated
by, the settlement of that in 1848. Eight years later full self-gov-
ernment was granted, largely through the agency of one man. As
a Wentworth had aided in subverting the liberties of Englishmen,
a second Wentworth redeemed the honor of his name by proving
the Shaftesbury of a second revolution, and procuring freedom for
their Australian descendants. Subsequent developments repeat the
English reforms of 1832, 1867, and 1881. Thus the colony de-
scribed in less than a century the evolution which it had taken the
mother country fourteen hundred years to accomplish. Younger
colonies, omitting the earlier stages, ran the same distance in far
shorter periods.

They are not only repeating, they are anticipating, the history of
the parent state. Eemale suffrage has been conceded in two Aus-
tralasian colonies, and it is inevitable in the rest. The domination of
a socialist democracy is far advanced in the two former. The refer-
endum, or direct appeal to the people on specific issues, is on the eve
of general enactment. Ministries elected by the legislature are pos-
sibly in the near future. Thus legislative bodies which sprang from
the crown are more democratic than those that sprang from the
people. Withal, the former retain an anomalous vestige of their
origin. While the business of legislation in Congress is necessarily
conducted by members who have no official connection with the
executive, as it was originally in the English Parliament, the British
and colonial ministries claim an ever-increasing monopoly of legisla-
tion on all questions of any magnitude. It has long been recognized
as impossible for a private member to carry through the House of
Commons a measure of any consequence, and a colonial ministry
arrests the progress of a successful bill by intimating that the subject
of it can only be legislated upon by the Government.

60 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

The free involution of a legislature from below is naturally more
rapid than its reluctant devolution from above. The swift develop-
ment of the Massachusetts Company into the Massachusetts Legisla-
ture has been ably traced by Professor Fiske, who is a sociologist
as well as a historian. The attempt to transact public business at a
primary meeting of all the freemen in the colony, assembling four
times a year, repeats the old Witenagemot, and failed for the same
reason as that died out — because, from the expansion of the popula-
tion, the assemblage was impracticable. It needed only four years
for the freemen to acquire the right of sending deputies to the
General Court, and only fifteen to bring about a permanent division
into two Houses. Other early colonies passed through the same
stages; colonies of later foundation took up the development at the
bicameral stage. It is the history of a land and colonization com-
pany of those days, or of a railway company in ours. The directors
become a Senate and the body of shareholders the popular House; the
statutes of the company are its constitution and the by-laws its legis-
lation. The origin of charter legislatures in a company explains a
parallel anomaly to that in crown legislatures. While the repre-
sentative Houses in British colonial legislatures have followed the
House of Commons in gathering all power into their own hands, in
states descended from the charter companies the House of Repre-
sentatives has been losing, while the Senate has gained authority.
In both cases the apparent anomaly is the outcrop of a deeper law.
The ministry in the one case and the senate in the other are each
the embodiment of that continuous social gerrn-plasm to which
the popular will of the hour stands in the same relation as the in-
dividual life does to the physiological germ-plasm; and, as the
latter is the true substance of the body, the social germ-plasm is
the substance of society, incarnating its permanent interests, and
therefore justly overriding the cries, the whims, the passions of
the hour.

The same dichotomy is visible in the colonial judicature. The
paterfamilias, the village elder, the tribal chief, the king, possess
and personally exercise an undelegated jurisdiction. Fully twenty
years ago a sociological worker surprised a historian of some pre-
tensions, who was conversant with the mere events of his special
period, by informing him that the practice of English kings to pre-
side in their own courts of justice came as far down as that very
period — the reign of James I. This prerogative was transmitted
with the other attributes of royalty to the governors of crown
colonies, who " generally acted as judges, sitting in the highest
court." A New Jersey Cincinnatus revived primitive simplicities
by hearing causes seated on a tree stump in his fields. The succes-

THE EVOLUTION OF COLONIES. 61

sive delegations of this power repeat the necessary concessions that
created the English judiciary. Side by side with the royal preroga-
tive grew up a popular jurisdiction which developed into the jury;
and it would be worth while to compare the acquisition of this con-
stitutional right (for example, in Connecticut and New South Wales)
with its history in England. Out of this element, and also as a
corollary from the election of a governor who was chief judge, came
the practice of electing judges in the ISTorth American colonies. It
was by no means confined to the charter colonies. Nowhere was the
determination toward an elective judiciary more noticeable than in
Pennsylvania, whose proprietary was its feudal sovereign. It may
be historically explained from the corrupt and servile judicature of
the age when these colonies were founded. The attachment to the
old system in contemporary British colonies may also be explained
from the very different point in the history of the mother country
when they were given off, when the talent, the purity, and inde-
pendence of the bench had become the pride of Englishmen, and the
judges were Baconian in everything but the taking of bribes. The
English and (naturally in a far less degree) the colonial courts still
show traces of their royal origin in the antiquated wig and gown, the
arrogance of the judges, their haughty point of honor — " contempt
of court," and their aristocratic bias. These are counterbalanced by
the increasing strength of the popular element. A hopeful bill was a
few years ago introduced into a colonial legislature restraining judges
from commenting on evidence. A mere act of Parliament would
have as much effect on lawyers' loquacity as Mrs. Partington's mop
had on the Atlantic. It is, nevertheless, in the direction of restrict-
ing the powers of the judges that the more radical colonies are
moving. In one southern community certain causes may be tried
by a judge with a jury of four, who will probably rise into assessors,
and in another that important step is possibly on the point of being-
taken. The courageous Premier of South Australia, who lately de-
fied the entire English medical profession, has now taken in hand
his own not less formidable guild. He proposes that " in proceedings
under certain acts the bench is to consist of a judge of the Supreme
Court with two lay assessors, one appointed by each party to the
suit " ; and counselors are peremptorily excluded from such pro-
ceedings. In certain other cases litigants may submit statements
of their differences to judges who will adjudicate without the inter-
vention of counsel. Thus the same middle point may be reached
from opposite termini. A series of levelings down may bring judi-
catures of royal origin to the same stage as popular jurisdictions have
reached by a gradual leveling up. The courts will then unite the
majesty of the law, whose " voice is the harmony of the world," with

62 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

an impartiality and inexpensiveness that will insure to every citizen
the enjoyment of the most elementary of all rights — the right to
justice.

Side by side with the process of differentiation within colonies
rose up an integration of colonies with one another, which also re-
peats the history of the mother country. The same principles of au-
thority and consent, again in unequal proportions, are blended here.
It was by conquest that the seven old English kingdoms were welded
into a united England, Strathclyde incorporated, Ireland annexed.
By force disguised as bribery, aided by the patriotic or interested
efforts of a few nobles and placemen and in opposition to the will of
the inhabitants, Scotland and Ireland were joined to England. Some
four or five groups of British colonies have reduplicated, or are now
reduplicating, a parallel development. In North America it was
preceded and accompanied * by altercations among the different
colonies. Boundary disputes repeat old English intertribal strug-
gles. Tariff wars are now waged, and commercial reciprocity treaties
contracted, between contemporary colonies. New Haven and Con-
necticut, which consisted of towns federated by consent, were united
by force. Voluntary alliances against the Indians or to conquer
Canada, or involuntary unions under despotic rulers, associated
larger or smaller North American groups from Maine to Maryland.
The loose confederation of 1781 was too voluntary to last. The final
federation that superseded it had a large element of latent force
mixed with consent. It was hardly less a conquest of the North by
the South than that of the Heptarchy by Wessex. The Constitution
is a monument of Southern ascendency. So it was that, for seventy
years off and on, the United States was governed by a Southern
oligarchy, whether under the hegemony of Virginia or of South
Carolina. The dominion of Canada means (even under a French
premier) the dominion of Ontario, with Quebec bribed, and New-
foundland not bribed enough, to enter. In 1876 the ten New
Zealand provinces were amalgamated under a central Government
which for many years remained that of the earlier-settled North
Island. A federation of the Australian colonies planned seven years
ago under the auspices of protectionist Victoria, is likely to succeed
under the leadership of free-trading New South Wales. Mr. Rhodes
is advising the federation of the British colonies of South Africa;
forty years ago a federation of all the South African states was de-
signed by Sir George Grey, then high commissioner, but with little
patriotism and still less wisdom, for at that time it necessarily im-
plied the dominance of the Dutch element. In 1846 that far-seeing-
statesman had projected a union of the South Sea Islands with New
Zealand. Only four years ago the same aged prophet of federation,

ARCHITECTURAL FORMS IN NATURE.

63

with an eloquence inspired by the theme, outlined to a Liberal audi-
ence a scheme for federating the English-speaking peoples. These
are dreams; but the dreams of to-day are the realities of to-morrow,
and every step taken toward the realization of them is itself a gain.

ARCHITECTURAL EORMS IN NATURE.

By F. S. DELLENBAUGH.

" Semblance of castle and arch and shrine
Towered aloft in the clear sunshine."

THE world is old, yet the world is new. It is old in our sight
because it has endured for a time that from our puny stand-
point seems long, but which, gauged by the standard of eternity,
would barely be represented by a single tick on the dial that knows
no beginning and no end. It is a work still in process; when it is
done the human element will not be here to admire or condemn it.
When in the long ages of its de-
velopment parts of the solid crust
have been pushed above the
waters, the elements have js&CV
combined to pull them //yl*. 1 '* *
down and sink them A&$* ,i
again under the seas. /.]£ «jjjji Pr '
It is a battle between
the waters and the dry
land, and when during
the refreshing shower
we see the rivulet at
our feet brown with
mud, we see the victory
of the rain; we see the
price the earth is pay-
ing to this subtle" foe.

This warfare goes on day by day, year by year, age by
age, and will go on as long as a dry rock rears its head
above the deep. The rains and frosts and winds, acting
on the exposed surface with unceasing energy, have in
many localities produced strange contours and striking resemblances
to objects familiar in our daily life, especially to buildings and other
structures due to the hand of man. These are often on a giant scale.
But, in addition to the quality of size, these natural forms possess

Fig. 1. — Completed Bridge.

NftTl'RAi 8RIDW.
YIR.C1N11V

6 4

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

as well the ever-important element of beauty, without which big-
ness is vulgarity. Nature is never vulgar. Whether we look upon
the roadside violet that wilts under the touch, or whether we stand
wondering at Niagara, or strain to see the tiptop rock of the Grand
Canon, we may always discern a radiant beauty, which pervades the

jp

^-

Fig. 2. — Completed Arch.

-f--:

*

world to its foundations, and is poured out upon us unmeasured and
unpriced.

So these architectural forms that result from the perennial battle
between the dry land and the sea, no matter what their size, are
charming in majesty, in proportion, in harmony of color, and in
variety and grace of outline. Our imaginations are constantly in
search of resemblances, and it is not strange, therefore, that every
land presents to human curiosity numerous specimens, though it
must be admitted that the mind is sometimes taxed to discover the
likeness. On the other hand, some are so evident as to have acquired
a world-wide celebrity. The Natural Bridge of Virginia (Fig. 1) is
not only a resemblance, it is a reality. In the Rocky Mountain region
are numerous other bridges formed thus naturally. In the Canon of
Desolation, Green River, Utah, far above the water are many natural
arches in the thinner salients of the monster cliffs. These perfora-
tions are often two thousand feet above the river, looking like enor-
mous windows opening on some other world. In one a pine tree that
must have been at least a hundred feet high was growing, and its
top was many feet below the crown of the arch. Wherever this par-
ticular formation is exposed, these arches or bridges occur in all
stages of development. The sandstone of this formation has the
peculiarity of fracturing conchoidally, and when the face of a cliff

ARCHITECTURAL FORMS IN NATURE.

65

contains one of these fractures (due to weathering) and is not thick,
some crevice is sure to open a path to the enemy, which is soon
widened to a highway for the frost and rain, and a cascade in
shower-time pours down, picking up sand as it goes to help in the
attack. The weathering becomes more rapid, the arch opens up, and
in time a natural bridge (Fig. 2) spans the air where once there
was but solid stone. The process continuing, the bridge will dis-
appear, a vacancy will take its place, and far off in the river bottom,
or still farther in the sea, will rest the disintegrated material that
once made part of the continuous cliff. Where the cliff is too thick
to be perforated (Fig. 3), the arch breaks back into a deep cavern
whose roof falls and falls till the blue sky takes its place. Thus has
a natural bridge, like a flower, its birth, its growth, perfection, and
decay. Wind erosion also plays a part, but the chief work is due to
water.

Besides bridges there are numberless other forms. Who has not
seen Castle or Pulpit Rocks, or Devil's Slides, or Palisades, etc.?

Fig. 3. — Middle Stage of a Bridge or Arch.

But it is in the West, perhaps, that the most remarkable rain carv-
ings and wind carvings occur, and especially in that part called the
Southwest, that " land as old as time is old," that strange, weird land
of red rocks, of tall, long cliff lines like mountain ranges split asunder
to span the desert in their nakedness; that land of labyrinthine
canons, where the bloom of morning lingers to kiss the gloom of

VOL. LIV. — 6

66 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

night; land of isolated buttes that frown in lofty silence on the
lower world like monuments belonging to some cemetery of giants;
land of mesas, plateaus, pinnacles, and peaks.

The massive red-and-yellow buttes at Green River, Wyoming,
are familiar to passengers on the Union Pacific Railway, and have

Si

CC'OYCi

Fig. 4. — "Garden of the Gods."

been beautifully rendered on canvas by Thomas Moran. Visitors
to Colorado Springs will not forget the superb " Steeple ' ; and
" Cathedral " rocks in the Garden of the Gods (Fig. 4), whose gor-
geous vermilion is thrust vertically into the Colorado blue; and
many there are who have seen the wonders of the Yellowstone and
the Yosemite. In all these places there are architectural forms that
have justly received the admiring tribute of thousands, yet in more
remote regions are forms quite as remarkable that have seldom been
seen by the eyes of white men.

"While riding northward across the Navajo Indian Reservation
from Fort Defiance, I well remember seeing, at a distance of a mile or
so, which may have " lent enchantment to the view," an immense
arch in red sandstone, and, more interesting still, one of the most
perfect suggestions of a building I have ever seen. To go closer at
the time was not practicable, nor even to stop for a more deliberate
study, but they were in sight from the slow-moving cavalcade for a

ARCHITECTURAL FORMS IN NATURE.

67

considerable time, and I have always remembered them as about the
most perfect architectural forms I have seen in all the West.

Pinnacles and multitudinous other forms were also there, and a
close inspection would doubtless have discovered many quite as near
perfection as those which attracted us from afar.

In other places in this same locality huge volcanic masses had
been pushed mysteriously, in remote geological time, here and there
through the strata of sandstones, and the layers of water-made rocks
having been subsequently cut away by the rains, the harder fire-made
rocks offering more resistance were left behind in tall spires, towers,
and various fantastic shapes. To one of them, revealing from the
mountains above it a central mass with wingiike dikes spreading out
on each side, the Navajos have applied the name of Tsebetai, " The
Stone Bird," and by this name it is now known to all who enter the
barren and peculiar country. Gazing down upon it one day from
the crest of the Tunicha Plateau, I was instantly impressed by the

felicity of the Indian title, for there it lay upon
the plain exactly like a great buzzard petrified
with wings outstretched for flight.

As a rule, it is not the volcanic rocks that
furnish the close images of bird, beast, or build-
The sedimentary or water-made rocks yield
the greatest number and the closest
resemblances. Even in towers and
pinnacles the water-made rocks,
though softer, come out
ahead, frequently sending up
their splendid shafts to hun-
dreds of feet, or to a full
thousand, like the " Captains "
in De Chelly Canon, Arizona
(Fig. 5). Minarets and spires
from one hundred to three
or four hundred feet high
might be counted by thou-
sands in the cliff and canon
country.

In far-away Greenland
Dr. Kane came upon the red
sandstone, " dreamy semblance of a castle flanked with triple towers,
completely isolated and denned," which he named the " Three Broth-
ers Turrets " (Fig. 6). Not far from this he found a still more singu-
lar and impressive shaft, whose poetical symmetry caused him to name
it " Tennyson's Monument " (Fig. 7). This he describes thus: " A

Fig. 5 — The Captains.

PTMNS

63

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

single cliff of greenstone, marked by the slaty limestone that once
incased it, rears itself from a crumbled base of sandstones, like the
boldly chiseled rampart of an ancient city. At its northern extrem-
ity, on the brink of a deep ravine which has worn its way among the
ruins, there stands a solitary column or minaret tower, as sharply
finished as if it had been cast for the Place Vendome. Yet the
length of the shaft alone is four hundred and eighty feet, and it
rises on a plinth or pedestal itself two hundred and eighty."

In some of the canons of the Great Walled River, the Colorado
of the West, turrets, pinnacles, and even natural arches stud the

n

"£ :

THREE MOTHERS TUIWT.3
CiKriNlAjv/i

Fig. 6. — Three Brothers Turrets.

walls with countless imitations of architectural forms, every bend
of the stream offering some fresh novelty. In parts of Marble Canon
the high walls are eroded into endless alcoves, caves, towers, weather-
beaten castles, and a thousand and one weird or fantastic forms.
One night, just below our camp, was a perfect semblance of a ruined
castle. Around the indentations which answered for crumbling
windows clung carelessly bunches of mosses and ferns, while at one
side from a mass of emerald verdure, rendered greener and sweeter
by contrast with the miles on miles of barren red cliff up and
down, gushed forth a clear spring whose waters, churned to silver,
dashed through the vines into the deep river a hundred feet below.

In the Canon of Desolation, twenty-four hundred feet above the
surface of the river, surrounded by pine trees, is a formation that
seemed from below so exact a counterpart of a pioneer log cabin that
it was difficult to believe it was only a deception. The beetling wall
which it surmounted was named " Log Cabin Cliff."

Another class of resemblances are those called " domes." The
Domes of the Yosemite are a well-known example, but the Five
Domes of the Virgin River in southern Utah are perhaps quite as

ARCHITECTURAL FORMS IN NATURE.

69

wonderful, while having the advantage of more inviting color. The
region surrounding them is one of the most remarkable scenic spots
on the continent, and in time will become as celebrated as the
Yosemite or the Yellowstone. It has fewer freaks and curiosities,
perhaps, but probably more real beauty. Xot far from the Five
Domes are the Temples of the Virgin (Fig. 8), similar to the domes,
but more rugged at the top. These are veritable temples of the gods,
solid as the rock-ribbed earth itself.

There are also in some places domes hollowed out. In Glen
Canon of the Colorado, a little below the mouth of the San Juan, is
a dome of this character carved out of the homogeneous sandstone
by the action of a pretty brook, which in fair weather is a mere
rivulet, but in rain time is an angry flood, sweeping down on its tide
immense quantities of sand. This little stream enters at the back of
the cavern through a very deep, narrow cleft, not more than a foot
or two wide, and after a plunge of some thirty feet or more into a
clear pool trickles on out to the river, which flows past the entrance.

The chamber is about two hundred feet high,
with a narrow crevice twisting on up to the top
of the cliffs, about a thousand feet, while the
area of the sandy floor is about two
hundred by five hundred. Its
mouth is barred by a little grove
of box-elder trees. When the
storm is abroad the innocent brook
grows to a giant in an hour, because
of the rain accumulating 011 the
barren, rock-surfaced country as on
the roof of a house, and, gathering
the load of sand in its impetuous
clutch, it hurls it against the bound-
ing walls, thus doing its part in the
war of the waters against the land.
I have counted dozens of these cas-
cades leaping over the canon walls
, during heavy rainstorms. An ex-
ploring party once camped within
the dome mentioned, and, thinking
it rendered well their songs, they
named it " Music Temple." Some carved their names on the soft
sandstone wall, and three of these a short time after were sent by
the Indians to the Great Dome of all.

The extensive Pink Cliffs, forming the escarpment of the south-
ern edge of the Great Basin, are of the colonnade type, and for

IENNY30NS

\ UN".

Fig. 7. — Tennyson's Monument.

7°

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

Fig 8. — Temples or the Virgin.

many miles their exquisite color and massive columnar facades crown
the high country ten thousand feet or more above the sea, visible
far to southward, and with the underlying Gray Cliffs and the still
lower down Vermilion Cliffs (which find their beginning in Glen
Canon of the Colorado, and trace their serpentine line leagues to

the west to meet the
Temples of the Virgin)
form one of the most
magnificent panoramas
to be found anywhere in
the world. Detached
and isolated portions of
these Pink Cliffs, sur-
rounded by the upper
members of the Gray,
produce sometimes novel
effects. I recall one sunny morning when I found myself suddenly
in a silent grassy glade, green and gray all round, with before me
what can be likened only to an immense pipe organ, its delicate pink
columnar pipes standing full two hundred feet high against a somber
background of pines where ^Eolus could be heard sighing for the lost
chord.

Major Dutton, in his Geology of the High Plateaus of Utah,
says of these Pink Cliffs : " The resemblances to strict architectural
forms are often startling. The upper tier of the vast amphitheater
is one mighty ruined colonnade. Standing obelisks, prostrate col-
umns, shattered capitals, panels, niches, buttresses, repetitions of
symmetrical forms, all bring vividly before the mind suggestions of
the work of giant hands, a race of genii once rearing temples of
rock, but now chained up in a spell of enchantment, while their
structures are falling in ruins through centuries of decay. Along
the southern and southeastern flank of the Paunsagant (plateau)
these ruins stretch mile after mile. But the crowning work is Table
Cliff in the background. Standing eleven thousand feet above sea
level and projected against the deep blue of the western sky, it
presents the aspect of a vast Acropolis crowned with a Parthenon.
It is hard to dispel the fancy that this is a work of some intelligence
and design akin to that of humanity, but far grander. Such glorious
tints, such keen contrasts of light and shade, such profusion of
sculptured forms, can never be forgotten by him who has once be-
held it."

Thus everywhere the imagination is roused to the comparison
of the natural and the artificial; with little effort it discovers classic
outlines in these rain-carved forms. And occasionally there is some-

ARCHITECTURAL FORMS IN NATURE.

7i

*

thing uncanny about them. In eastern Utah, some miles from the
point where White River joins the Green, and close by the former
stream, lies a whole group of natural edifices, to which General
Hughes applied the name of Goblin City. Remote and lonely at
the time of our visit, in the midst of a hostile country, the numerous
small houselike buttes, resting like a real town in the bottom of the
rugged, desolate gorge, seemed about to pour out an angry host, to
stop our further entrance into their weird and forbidding land. The
broken cliffs through which we had descended to the " City " pre-
sented detached rocks here and there looking like petrified guards-
men who might only be revived by the Prince's kissing the Sleeping
Beauty, somewhere perhaps to be found in this goblin realm.

Gunnison's Butte, on Green River, not far from the point where
the brave captain crossed the stream in 1853, is a fine example of
what may be called the cathedral type (Fig. 9). Rising supreme
in colossal dignity twenty-seven hundred
feet above the river bank, in its tender
color, in its splendid lines, it is
without a rival. On its southwest-
ern part, toward the
base, the numerous ^

abutments and little
slopes crowning them
are of a pure delicate
blue, rivaling the tint
of a summer sky. Ex-
tending far to west-
ward, these Azure
Cliffs, which begin
with Gunnison's
Butte, present one of
the most remarkable
and beautiful touches
of color the rocks have
ever unfolded. Near
the mouth of the San
Rafael, Dellenbaugh's
Butte (Fig. 10) exhib-
its a different type, lik-
ened by the explorers of the region to an art gallery, because of its
broad roof and simplicity of outline. Four hundred feet high, its
chocolate-brown mass rests beside Green River, silent, serene, as if
waiting for the jury to finish arranging the exhibit and open the
doors to the public.

jr>

■y^H- -

^

Fig. 9.

-Gunnison's Butte ; 2,700 feet above river.

7 2

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

I \

*
+ r ....

£NBftU«rll> IJUTTE-.

*-*

Fig. 10 — The Art Gallery.

Monument Rocks near Colorado Springs are well known for their
fantastic shapes, but another set of similar monuments in southern

Colorado are not so fa-
miliar, and have been
formed in a different way.
Those near Colorado
Springs are due to a hard
spot in the rocks acting as
a kind of roof for the por-
tions below, but in the
other case the resistance
has been offered by frag-
ments of basalt rolling
down to a plain from a
neighboring hilltop, and
assuming protection over the area upon which they happened to rest.
Thus they soon found themselves topping numerous adopted monu-
ments twenty or thirty feet high (Fig. 11).

One of the most out-of-the-way regions left within our bound-
aries is that lying around the junction of the Grand and Green
Rivers in eastern Utah. These two rivers, flowing at this point in
canons about twelve hundred feet deep, come together in a
canon thirteen hundred feet deep to form the Colorado. You climb
out from the junction by a narrow crevice, and on top find yourself
on a barren, much-cut-up plateau. The surface is verdureless, consist-
ing for the most part of bare rock
split by numerous crevices. You
are in the midst of " The Land of
Standing Rock," as the Indians
call it. Powell, in referring to
this locality, says : " We must -not
conceive of piles of bowlders or
heaps of fragments, but a whole
land of naked rock, with giant
forms carved on it;
cathedral - shaped
buttes towering
hundreds or thou-
sands of feet; cliffs
that can not be scaled, and canon walls that shrink the river into insig-
nificance; with vast hollow domes, and tall pinnacles and shafts set
on the verge overhead." Xear and far in all directions the eye en-
counters pinnacle after pinnacle, butte after butte, cliff after cliff,
like a stone forest, impassable, impenetrable, except to the trained

y**>

%^r'

Mi.< .-vi Ml ■. : Hi'v - s

1

%

Fio. 11. — Basalt Topping Earth.

ARCHITECTURAL FORMS IN NATURE. 73

mountaineer. Some of the shapes here are most peculiar. One which
I call the Synagogue (Fig. 12), as no other name, so far as I know,
has ever been applied, is representative. Its lines are strikingly like
those of the temple of Khandaria in Khwahrao, Central India. It
has a round main structure, showing several deep lines of horizontal
molding, and is of a deep reddish-brown color. The " roof " is a light
pinkish red, as I remember it, and rounds up to a central cupola of
the lower color. Springing from the fror,t is a beautiful minaret, car-
rying the darker color to the apex.

Though strange rock structures abound in all this region, it is in
the specially arid portions that they are most common. The strata

&

THE SYNIsGOCI
UTMI

3>

Fig. 12. — The Synagogue.

being unprotected by vegetation, the wearing away is more rapid,
and follows more eccentric lines. The higher and drier a local-
ity, there — provided there is some rainfall — will be found the
most extraordinary rain carvings. The lack of abundant rain pre-
vents the growth of vegetation and the altitude permits the rain
torrents to carry loads of sand, and the more sand and velocity the
greater the scouring. In some of these intermittent stream courses
the sand and bowlders scoop out deep holes like huge pots — a variety,
in fact, of the hole known in geology as "pothole" (Fig. 13).
These are very deep and sometimes provide a thirsty traveler with
a draught of clear water that has lingered from the last shower. In
some places these " pockets " or " tanks " supply the only water to
be had, and it is a glad sight when one sees a pocket before him.
Each formation has its own peculiarities of erosion, or as Dutton
aptly puts it, " its own school of natural architecture." Given, then,
a particular formation exposed to the atmosphere, it can be foretold
just what its natural architectural forms will be, whether domes,
minarets, pinnacles, arches, towers, or what.

74

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

Architectural forms are not confined to the United States, nor to
the American continent. The Giant's Causeway in Ireland is a
familiar example of what they have in those parts, while under the
Arabian sky the conditions resemble those in our arid Southwest,

Fio. 13.— Potholes in Intermittent Stream Course.

and there we find many fantastic rain carvings. Among these is the
Sphinx of El Guerrah, carved by the rain-sculptor doubtless ex-
pressly to furnish answers to our " whys and wherefores " concerning
this " wondrous architecture of the world."

Among the applications proposed for the newly liquefied gases is their
use as aids in balloon navigation. An aeronaut having a few bottles of
liquefied hydrogen or illuminating gas has the means of increasing the in-
flation of his balloon when necessary, and need not fear to waste a little
gas when he wishes to diminish its levity. Prof. L. Errera, of Brussels,
has suggested an apparatus which he calls the ceinture de natation, or
natation belt, by which these objects can be conveniently accomplished.

THE HERDS OF THE YELLOW ANT. 75

THE HERDS OF THE YELLOW ANT.

By JAMES WEIR, Jr., M. D.

AS far as my observations go, and they extend through a period
-*-^~ of twenty years, the aphides which live on grapevines, and
which are the peculiar cows of the common yellow ant (Lasius
flavus) of our gardens, show many curious phases in their life history.
Especially is this true of the manner in which they perpetuate their
species.

If a colony of aphides be kept under observation during the
summer, it will be noticed that several kinds of individuals arise
within it. By far the largest number of the herd will be made up
of the wingless agamic form — that is, of females which reproduce
without mating. In the species under consideration the young
(during the summer) are born alive, and do not come from eggs.

So rapid is the increase of these insects that overproduction
would soon kill off the colony by starvation were it not held in
check by the peculiar anatomical and physiological metamorphoses
which make their appearance in the offspring from time to time.
Every now and then young ones are born which, in the course of
time, evolve two pairs of wings; these winged individuals (which
are also females and agamic) abandon the colony and produce else-
where, in turn, wingless and single-winged individuals. In autumn
both males and females are born ; these mate and the females lay eggs.

These creatures secrete a honeylike fluid which exudes from two
tubelike teats on the back of the sixth abdominal segment. Ants
are passionately fond of this honey-milk and jealously guard and
protect the herds of aphidian cows which produce it. They can be
seen at all hours of the day, busily engaged in milking their queer
kine. They will gently stroke the aphides with their antennae, thus
inducing a free flow of the nectar from the abdominal tubules.
Calves effect a like result by nudging their mothers with their heads ;
the cows " give down " their milk when thus assaulted by the calves.

In autumn, as soon as ovipositing has begun, the ants gather the
aphis eggs as fast as they are laid- and carry them into their nests.
Here they remain, carefully guarded and protected by the ants, until
they hatch out in the spring, when the young agamic females are
carried out by their foster mothers and placed upon the tender grape
shoots or buds. This year the ants brought out the young aphides,
which formed the herds kept under observation this summer, on the
18th of March. On the 19th they carried them back into the nest;
this occurred in the forenoon, when the sun was shining and the air
was warm and balmy. About 12 m. it began to storm, and became

76

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

quite cold; that night there was a hard frost. The ants evidently
knew that this change in the weather was about to occur; therefore
they removed their property to a warm and sheltered place. I have
often watched the ants in autumn when the aphides were ovipositing;
the former would caress the latter, and seemingly would endeavor

to stimulate and cheer them
during the operation. As soon,
however, as the eggs were de-
posited, the ants would seize
and carry them into the nest;
the aphis mother was left, with-
out any compunctions what-
ever, to die during the first
frost! Her life work had
ended, and the economv of Xa-
ture needed her no longer.

Ants are always on the look-
out for the new colonies which
are continually being started
by the winged females. As
soon as one of these new herds
is found by an ant, she returns
to the nest and notifies her
companions. One or two ants
then accompany her to her newly found treasure, which in future is
always, night and day, under their watchful care. As the herd in-
creases in numbers, additional herdsmen, or rather dairymaids, are
called into service.

Associated w 7 ith this species are commonly to be found other spe-
cies of aphides, notably the one which secretes, or rather excretes,
;i white powdery substance which is to be seen on their backs in soft,
plumose masses. On microscopic examination this substance is
found to be fairly teeming with microbia. These microbes, at the
first glance, seem to be of different species; maturer judgment, how-
ever, declares them to be but metamorphic forms of the same in-
dividual.

A " white " aphis can be seen in the photograph at the base of the
upper leaf stem. With a small pocket lens the details of this crea-
ture's structure can be easily made out. There are several of these
aphides on the vine, but the one mentioned is the largest and the
most conspicuous. They, are much larger than the neetar-producers,
are oval in shape, and distinctly flattened. In fact, in general out-
line they are strikingly like that bete noire of all good housekeepers — ■
the Cimex lectularius. The ants frequently congregate about these

IciixEisioN Fly laying Eggs on Aphides.

THE HERDS OF THE YELLOW ANT.

77

little creatures and appear to be paying them some kind of court.
When I cut the vine for photographic purposes, six or eight ants
were standing about the large individual mentioned above ; they soon
became aware that some dire calamity had happened, or was about to
happen, either to their beloved herd or to themselves, and, becoming
frightened, soon abandoned cattle and pasture and fled away in panic
terror. I had hoped to photograph them in situ, but found this to
be impossible with the instruments at my disposal.

The ants do not " milk " these white aphides, neither do they
eat the excrementitious substance on their backs. The white indi-
viduals, however, seem to be factors in the social economy of the
herd, for the ants move them, on occasions, along with the herd to
other pastures. Once I saw an ant pick up a white aphis and
carry it to a leaf some little distance away from the colony; she
then returned, picked up a gravid nectar-producing aphis, and car-
ried her to the spot where she had left the white individual. In
a few days a fine herd of " milkers " was to be seen grazing in the
new field. I judge from this that these white aphides are in some
way useful to, if not absolutely necessary for, the welfare of the
herd.

The winged females have both compound eyes and ocelli, or
primitive eyes, yet they seek the under surface of the leaf, thus
seeming to prefer the more subdued
light to be found there. The young are
always deposited on the under surface
of the leaves; in a few days, however,
they either migrate of their own accord
to the more succulent stems or are car-
ried thither by the ants, which never
cease to watch over and care for them.

In order to test this guardianship,
I have frequently wounded the vine be-
low a colony of aphides, thus cutting
off, to a certain extent, the flow of sap.
The ants would soon discover this and
would at once begin to move the -herd
to another vine. The aphis is pro-
vided with boring and suction organs
somewhat similar to those of the mos-
quito. In point of fact, it is interesting to note that the ances-
tors of the mosquito, in all probability, lived wholly on the juices of
plants; hence, in this respect, the resemblance is more real than
apparent. Aphides, also, like mosquitoes, have the curious habit
of elevating their bodies, " standing on their heads," after they

An Aphis-Lion.

78

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

have become gorged with food; this can be observed in the

drawings.

The cow of the yellow ant should not be confounded with her

harmful cousin, Phylloxera vastatrix, the deadliest enemy of the

grape. Fortunately for us, this
last-mentioned aphis does not
abound in the United States; in
France and other European coun-
tries, however, phylloxera has
occasioned the loss of millions of
dollars.

Notwithstanding the fact that
the ants are exceedingly zealous
in guarding their property, many
of the aphides fall victims to the
assaults of their enemies. The
most cunning, insidious, and
crafty of their foes are the ich-
Lakva, Eggs, and Adult of Apih.- neumon flies, three varieties of
Lion ( Chrynopha). Slightly modified which are continually, during the

from Com stock. , -..

summer months and m autumn,

endeavoring to cradle their young in the bodies of the aphides.

One of these flies, which can be seen in the drawing, is quite
large; I am inclined to believe, therefore, that their larvae do not
pupate in the bodies of their hosts, but undergo further metamor-
phoses elsewhere. Another of these flies is very small, hardly larger,
in fact, than the insect which it selects as a living cradle for its
young. The ichneumon shows rare intelligence, inasmuch as she
invariably deposits her eggs on the young members — the calves, as it
were — of the herd; she seems to know that the older aphides would
die before the ichneumon grubs arrived at a suitable age for pupa-
tion; hence she selects the young ones. She runs here and there
about the colony until she finds a young aphis; then, curving her
abdomen between her legs, she will quickly lay an egg on the body
of the unconscious insect. When the egg hatches the larva feeds on
the body of its host (carefully avoiding the vital organs, however)
until the time arrives for it to undergo further metamorphoses. The
animated cradle and cupboard eventually dies, but not until its
queer baby has arrived at an age at which it has no further use
for it.

The ants are fully aware of the fact that the ichneumon is a
deadly enemy of their cows; hence, when one of these flies is seen
hovering over the herd, they at once become alert and endeavor to
chase her away whenever she alights. She manages, however, to

THE HERDS OF THE YELLOW ANT.

79

elude them every now and then, and to lodge her fatal eggs on some
of the tender young aphides.

Another implacable foe of these creatures is the larva of a neu-
ropterous insect which in its perfect or mature form resembles the
dragon fly. It is technically known as an aphis-lion, and differs very
widely in habits from the common and well-known ant-lions. The
last-mentioned grubs dig pits, at the bottoms of which they lie in
wait for and seize their prey whenever it falls therein; the aphidian
lion is, on the contrary, a bold and skillful hunter, and takes its prey
wherever it may find it. It is an ugly, heavy, slothful-looking grub,
yet it is remarkably agile. When darting upon its quarry (and it
hunts the winged aphides only), its thick, clumsy-looking legs move
with such rapidity that they can scarcely be seen. Its movements
as well as its shape are decidedly
lacertilian; in fact, when it is
seen coursing over the grape
leaves in pursuit of its prey, it re-?
minds one irresistibly of the bril-
liant little lizards which are to
be observed running here and
there over stone walls, fences,
and sunny woodland paths. This
creature stalks its prey like the
lycosids or hunting spiders, and
fairly bounds upon it when it
arrives within grasping distance.
Its catlike movements when
creeping up on its quarry are
wonderful to behold, and indi-
cate a very high degree of intel-
ligence.

In color it is jet black; in
fact, in certain lights it glistens
like a jet jewel. It is about half
an inch long and one sixteenth
of an inch broad. On the mar- -
gins of its body, from its head
to its tail, are rows of thorn-
like spines. Its masticatory
organs, as well as its viscera,

are much more highly developed than are those of ant-lions. It
is a brave little creature, and only succumbs to the ants (which
make war on it wherever they find it, thus showing that they are
fully aware of the fact that it is inimical to their herds) when life

A Colony of Aphides.

8o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

ceases. During- the last twenty years I have frequently observed
this larva, and have endeavored to follow it in its metamorphoses. I
have succeeded only once, however, in carrying it through to its
imago or perfect form. It is not described in any of my lists, and
may be, therefore, a new species. There is another aphis-lion which
in very many respects closely resembles the one just described. It
is pictured by Professor Comstock, a modification of whose drawing-
is here produced. He writes of this creature as follows:

'" When the aphis-lion is full grown, it rolls itself up into a tiny
ball and weaves around itself a glistening, white cocoon, which looks
like a seed pearl." (This can be seen in the sketch near the base of
the upper leaf.) " It may be supposed that while the aphis-lion is
secluded in this pearly cell it repents its greedy, murderous ways, and
changes in spirit; at least the body changes greatly, for, after a time,
a circular lid is made in the cocoon, and out of it there emerges a
beautiful, dainty creature, with delicate-veined, green wings, a pale-
green body, slender brown antennae, and a pair of large eyes that
shine like melted gold. It is sometimes called golden-eyes, and some-
times a laced-wing fly, from its appearance."

This beautiful little insect evinces marvelous forethought in the
matter of perpetuating her kind. She knows that her young are pre-
daceous, devouring anything in the shape of an insect or an egg that
they can secure; she is aware of the fact that, if she were to deposit
her eggs, side by side, on a leaf, the first young aphis-lion hatched
out would devour all of the remaining eggs. In order to guard
against this, she spins a delicate but stiff stalk of hard silk, upon the
tip of which she deposits an egg. By the side of this stalk she rears
another, and another, and another, tipping each with an egg, until
finally, when she has finished ovipositing, there appears a miniature
grove of delicate silken stems, each one of which bears aloft on its
summit a round and shining egg. When the first-born of this brood
makes its appearance, it crawls down the stem to the surface of the
leaf, and goes in search of food, utterly unconscious of the rich and
toothsome feast just above its head on the tips of the other stalks!

Lubbock concludes, from certain experiments, that the yellow
ant will not voluntarily drop from an elevation. Xow, observations
and experiments made by myself teach me that these ants (Lasius
flams) will drop from elevations when they wish to attain a certain
object.

On one occasion one of the herds of aphides under observation
was discovered by a wandering black ant (Lasius niger), which
reported her discovery to her comrades. At once a marauding ex-
pedition was inaugurated by these cattle thieves, which fiercely
attacked the yellow guardianfe of the herd. The black rievers swarmed

TWO GIFTS TO FRENCH SCIENCE. 81

up the grapevine, but were met by the brave yellow warriors, which
valiantly withstood their attack. Finally, the yellow ants were in
danger of being overwhelmed by numbers, when I suddenly per-
ceived that they were being re-enforced. Closer examination revealed
the fact that they were crawling up a neighboring vine and then drop-
ping from an overhanging leaf on to the leaf on the stem of which the
aphides were feeding. They could not reach the herd by way of the
original path on account of the intervening army of black ants, hence
their shrewd and most intelligent use of the neighboring vine and
overhanging leaf. I am glad to report that the yellow ants were
victorious, and that they completely routed the would-be robbers.

When alarmed, the yellow ant will draw in its legs and drop to
the ground; moreover, this is characteristic of all vine- and tree-
climbing ants, Lubbock to the contrary notwithstanding. It stands
to reason that past experiences must have taught them that they re-
ceived no injury from involuntary tumbles; that they have evolved
the habit of voluntarily throwing themselves from an elevation in
order to attain certain objects does not seem to me, therefore, at all
wonderful or extraordinary.

TWO GIFTS TO FKENCH SCIENCE.

By M. HENRI DE PAEVILLE.

MANTOINE THOMSON D'ABBADIE, of the Academy
• of Sciences and Bureau of Longitudes, France, who died in
Paris, March 20, 1897, was born in Dublin, January 3, 1810, of a
family of the Basses-Pyrenees temporarily residing in Ireland, but
which returned to France in 1815. The d'Abbadies are said to have
been descended from the lay monks instituted by Charlemagne to
defend the frontier against the incursions of the Saracens. The
name d'Abbadie was not originally a proper name, but the title of a
function (abbatia abbadia), and designated those soldiers who lived
in the abbeys of the Basque country, lance in hand. Hence the
name, which is well diffused, whether spelled with two 6s or one.

While still very young Antoine d'Abbadie manifested an un-
usual curiosity concerning the unknown around him. " What is
there at the end of the road? " he asked his nurse. "A river," she
replied. " And what is beyond the river? " " A mountain." " And
what then?" "I don't know; I never was there." "Well," said
he, " I will go and see." He was the same as he grew up, always
wanting to know. He visited Brazil upon a mission for the Academy
of Sciences, and on his return joined his brother at Alexandria.

VOL. LIY. — 7

82

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Unknown Ethiopia attracted his attention, and he engaged with
his brother Arnould in archaeological researches. Archaeology proved
unfruitful, and the two brothers took up geodesy. For eleven years
Antoine d'Abbadie traveled though Ethiopia, living the life of the
natives, and making himself master of the five Abyssinian dialects.
The exploration was difficult and sown with dangers. Antoine
d'Abbadie covered the country from Massouah, on the shore of the
Red Sea, to the interior of the land of KafTa, which he was the first
to visit, with a triangulation that involved the fixing of five thousand
positions at five hundred and twenty-five successive stations. The
distance between Massouah and Mount Wocho in southern Kaffa is

Fig. 1. — Chateau d'Abbadie. General view. (A gift to the French Academy of Sciences.)'

about one thousand kilometres, a little more than the crossing of
France along the meridian of Paris, and the trigonometric network
reached two hundred and fifty kilometres in breadth. Antoine
d'Abbadie remained in Gallaland from 1837 to 1848. The labors
of the two brothers, too numerous to cite here, concerned also eth-
nography and linguistics. Both were nominated Chevaliers of the
Legion of Honor on the same day, September 27, 1850. The doors
of the Academy of Sciences were opened to Antoine d'Abbadie
August 27, 1867, and he was named a member of the Bureau des
Longitudes in 1878. He was in charge of the observation of the
transit of Venus in Santo Domingo in 1882.

Instead of devoting himself to a specialty, as is done now to ex-
cess, d'Abbadie pursued the scientific movement in its various forms,
and was at once an astronomer, geodesian, archaeologist, ethnogra-
pher, numismatist, and interested in other fields. "With his noble
character he made himself esteemed and loved during his whole

TWO GIFTS TO FRENCH SCIENCE. 83

working life by all so fortunate as to make his acquaintance. In an
interview I had with him a few weeks before his death, when his dis-
ease had already gained a strong hold upon him and he was nearly
speechless, he expressed himself freely concerning the future, al-
though he uttered every word with difficulty, and it was easy to see
that it caused him pain. The topic was science, and he wanted to
talk about it.

When he was president of the Academy of Sciences, a few years
ago, he sacrificed himself to be equal to the honor that had been con-
ferred upon him. Speaking was already becoming very difficult to
his tired vocal organs. He made extreme efforts during the whole
year to fulfill his duty as president, and was punctual at the Monday
sessions to the end.

In 1896, feeling the advance of age, he determined to make a
splendid present to the Academy of Sciences. The Due d'Aumale
had given Chantilly to the Institute. M. Antoine d'Abbadie gave
the Academy of Sciences his magnificent Chateau d'Abbadie, near
Hendaye, in the Basses-Pyrenees, on the coast of the Bay of Biscay.
The academy will enter upon the possession of this property, of three
hundred and ten hectares of land surrounding it, and of a capital pro-
ducing a revenue of forty thousand francs (eight thousand dollars)
after the death of Madame d'Abbadie. Only a single condition is
imposed on the gift. Having carried on his astronomical work at
Abbadia and begun there to catalogue the stars and study the varia-
tions of gravity, he asked in exchange for his incomparable gift that
the academy should complete in fifty years a catalogue of five hun-
dred thousand stars. The bureau of the academy dispatched its
president, M. Cornu, and its perpetual secretary, M. Bertrand, to
Abbadia as its representatives to express its gratitude to M. and
Madame d'Abbadie. The faith of the academy was pledged to con-
tinue the work begun by M. d'Abbadie, and a commemorative medal
was given him bearing on one side a portrait of Arago, and on the
other a minute of the gift and the thanks of the company.

The Chateau of Abbadia will therefore be devoted to the de-
termination of the stars that are not yet catalogued. Probably, as
was the donor's thought, the religious orders or some of the secular
priests will perform this colossal labor. The chaplain of the chateau
has already given his service to the work. In any case, those who
may live in the chateau will have no cause to complain of their
home. Abbadia is a very interesting structure, built from plans
by Viollet-le-Duc, modified and carried out by the architect Duthoit,
with suggestions of the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. The ob-
servatory adjoins the chateau, which it antedates thirty years in
building, and has a meridian telescope and the essential astronomical

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

instruments. In the deep cellar of the observatory M. d'Abbadie
made more than two thousand seismic observations with the pen-
dulum.

The chateau stands in an admirable situation, and presents a
very fine external aspect. We give a general view of it and a picture
of the main entrance. The interior decoration is very beautiful.

Those who have had the privilege of visiting Abbadia have re-
marked that a stone is missing from the balcony of one of the win-
dows; this stone, according to
the wishes of the donor, is
never to be put in place. A
history is connected with its
absence. M. d'Abbadie, in
the course of a journey in
America, contracted a strong
friendship with Prince Louis
Napoleon, who was then in
the United States. The prince
once said to him, " If I ever
come into power, whatever
you may ask of me is granted
in advance." The prince be-
came Emperor of the French.
Napoleon III had a good
memory. He met his former
companion one day, and said
to him in an offhand way : " I
promised when we were in
America to give you what-
ever you would ask for; have you forgotten it?" M. d'Abbadie
replied : " I have built myself a chateau near Hendaye, where I hope
to spend the rest of my days. If you will be so kind as to go a few
kilometres out of the way for me during your coming visit to Biarritz,
I shall consider myself highly honored if you will lay the last stone
of my house." Napoleon smiled and promised. But that was in
1870, and Napoleon III never returned to Biarritz. That is the
reason a stone is missing at Abbadia.

An account is also appropriate here of that other gift to French
science and letters of the Chateau of Chantilly, made to the Institute
of France in 1886, by the late Due d'Aumale, whose tragic death
in consequence of the terrible disaster at the Bazaar de Charite, Paris,
occurred near in time to that of M. d'Abbadie. The duke was con-
spicuous as a soldier, as a man of letters, the author of the History
of the Princes of Conde, and as a great bibliophile; as a member of

Fig. 2. — Principal Entrance to the Chateau
d'Abbadie.

TWO GIFTS TO FRENCH SCIENCE.

H

the French Academy (1871), taking the place of Montalembert ; of
the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, and of the Academy of
Fine Arts; and as a patriot, though a banished prince. The gift
was made three months after the decree was issued banishing the
Orleans princes from France, and after the duke had expostulated
with M. Grevy in vain against the step. The deed reads : " Wishing
to preserve to France the domain of Chantilly in its integrity, with
its woods, lawns, waters, buildings, and all that they contain —
trophies, pictures, books, objects of art, and the whole of what forms,

Fig. 3. — The Chateau of Chantii/ly.
(Presented by the late Due d'Aumale to the Institute of France.)

as it were, a complete and various monument of French art in all its
branches, and of the history of my country in its epochs of glory — I
have resolved to commit the trust to a body which has done me
the honor of calling me into its ranks by a double title, and which,
without being independent of the inevitable transformations of
societies, escapes the spirit of faction and all too abrupt shocks, main-
taining its independence through political fluctuations. Conse-
quently, I give to the Institute of France, which shall dispose of it
according to conditions to be hereafter determined, the domain of
Chantilly as it shall exist on the day of my death, with the library
and the other artistic and historical collections which I have formed
in it, the household furniture, statues, trophies of arms, etc." The
sole condition attached to the gift was that nothing should be
changed at Chantilly. The chapel, where the heart of Conde is de-

86 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

posited, should be retained, devoted to worship, with special masses
to be said at stated times, and the splendid collections of the chateau
should together be called the Conde Museum. In 1889 the Govern-
ment authorized the duke to return to France. He refused to accept
the permission as a matter of favor, but only as one of right. He
returned, however, and took his seat in the academy in May of that
year. — Translated for the Popular Science Monthly from articles
in La Nature.

THE MONGOOSE IN JAMAICA.

By C. W. WILLIS,

MEMT3EK OF THE INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA.

ABOUT fifteen or twenty years ago the mongoose (Herpestes
griseus) was imported from India by the colonial govern-
ment and introduced into the island of Jamaica, in the West Indies,
for the ostensible purpose of destroying the large, gray, white-bellied
rat which played havoc with the growing cane on the sugar plan-
tations.

The mongoose belongs to the Viverrido?, or civet-cat family,
which is closely allied to the Felidce, one of the most widely diversi-
fied among the carnivora. But the mongoose differs materially from
the civet cats, for it belongs properly to the subfamily Herpestinae, or
ichneumons, having toes slender and straight, and separate from one
another; the scent glands, so highly developed in the civet cat, being
either small or entirely absent. Most of the ichneumons are natives
of Africa, but several are Indian, and one form (H. ichneumon) ex-
tends to southern Spain.

H. griseus is the true mongoose of India, and is the animal im-
ported into Jamaica. In its native habitat it devours snakes, rats,
lizards, and other creatures not in favor with humanity. Its color
is gray, darker on the head and legs; its feet are blackish, and the end
of the tail is tipped with black. Beneath the longer gray- or white-
ringed hairs there is a fine, short, reddish under fur. The body of
the full-grown animal is about twenty-one inches in length, and the
tail eighteen inches.

Like Pharaoh's rat in Egypt, to which it is allied, the mongoose
is highly valued in India, and is often kept tame about the houses for
the services that it renders in destroying snakes and other plagues.
It is especially famous for its prowess in destroying the deadly cobra,
a feat performed by force of its superior boldness and activity.

That the little animal has fairly achieved the object for which
it was imported can not be gainsaid, but that it would ever become

THE MONGOOSE IN JAMAICA. 87

the universal pest which it is at the present day, and has been for
several years, was never anticipated. So long as it kept to the cane-
growing plantations, and ate the planter's poultry and all young and
available animal life, all went well; but with its rapid and prolific
powers of reproduction and its vagabond and roaming disposition,
in a very short time it was found to be in every part of the island,
from the seashore to the tops of the loftiest mountains, the highest
peak of which is seventy-three hundred feet above the sea level.

Though it has not exterminated the cane rats, it has lessened their
numbers, and saved the sugar planters a vast sum of money. But it
has nearly exterminated the ground laying and feeding birds. It

The Mongoose (Herpestes griseus) in Jamaica.

devours poultry and eggs of all kinds, on the ground and in trees, in-
cluding those of the land turtle, so that the latter, once very numer-
ous and highly esteemed as an article of food by the native epicures,
is now seldom found. Here may be mentioned an interesting fact,
that the mongoose, in no way a tree-climbing animal in its native
India, has become such in Jamaica, as its voracious appetite lessened
the numbers of ground feeding and laying birds, and compelled it to
take to the trees in order to enlarge its food supply.

The mongoose kills young pigs that roam, half wild, over the
island; also lambs and kids. It eats fruits of all kinds, fish, wild fowl,
snakes, lizards, and crabs; and the once plentiful edible lizards and
land crabs are now rarely seen. All young and tender life, both
animal and vegetable, is included in its daily menu. When the
mongoose has cleared off all the animal life, it turns its attention to
the " ground provisions," and here it shows the varieties of its tastes
and the strength of its jaws. It will grovel with its paws until yams,

88 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

cocos, sweet, potatoes, cassava both bitter and sweet, and other ground
food tubers are laid bare.

Of fruit, the mongoose has a partiality for bananas, the mango,
and others, as well as for some of the tree vegetables, such as
the delicious akee (Cupania edulis), and the avocado, or alligator
pear. It will, likewise, when the irrigating canals are drained for
cleansing, seize fish and make off with them. Not the least harm it
has done has been the destruction of insectivorous birds and lizards,
and the consequent increase of another nuisance, the tick. This is
a subject which the Jamaica Government is bound to take up in the
near future, and there will be found only one remedy — the intro-
duction, propagation, and protection of insect-eating birds, for the
question of adopting some plan for the wholesale destruction of the
mongoose has thus far proved fruitless.

The mongoose breeds six times a year, and each time there are
from five to ten young ones. The animal lives in the hollows of trees,
dry walls, and other similar places. Its activity is wonderful, and it
very seldom misses its quarry, which, when secured, the mongoose
proceeds to mutilate in the groin, first of all drinking the warm blood,
then devouring the liver and heart.

In Jamaica there was a very beautiful indigenous snake (Chilo-
bothrus inornatus), a friend of the agriculturist, commonly called
the yellow or banana snake, which grew to a length of six or seven
feet. It is practically extinct, for during the last five or six years
it has been nearly impossible to find a specimen. This bloodthirsty
little animal has also nearly exterminated another ally of the culti-
vator, a certain ground lizard (Anolis corsalis), which is now very
rarely seen.

In its general appearance, except in point of size, it being much
larger, it may be stated that the mongoose very closely resembles the
common gray squirrel of the northern United States, although the
latter does not have feet and tail tipped with black.

Comparing the flint implements of palaeolithic and neolithic age, Prof.
T. McKenny Huse exhibited at the British Archaeological Institute a series
of flints to illustrate his view that in their earlier stages of manufacture the
palaeolithic and neolithic implements passed through the very same steps
— that is, a block of flint was first rough dressed by both palaeolithic and
neolithic people into the same general form. The neolithic man merely
proceeded further on the same lines, afterward finding out the way to
grind the edge, and at last the whole implement. With few exceptions, the
author said, neolithic flints were found on the surface or in artificial exca-
vations ; whereas, as a rule, palaeolithic implements were found in deposits
that seemed to be due to the sweeping down into hollows or river terraces
of surface soils in or on which the implements and other stones lay.

THE CAUSE OF RAIN. 89

THE CAUSE OF RAIK*

By J. E. PLUMANDON,

METEOROLOGIST AT THE OBSERVATORY OF THE PUY-DE-DOME.

A GREAT many theories have been invented to explain the
•*—*- formation of rain, some of which are remarkable chiefly for
their absurdity or their complexity. Even most of the scientific
theories depend too largely on hypotheses and are not sufficiently
supported by facts. There are, however, some which are as a whole
established on authentic observations, and, although they are still
incomplete, they do not, like some of the speculations, contradict
facts that are observed every day. For more than thirty years I
have studied professionally and because I had a taste for it all the
atmospheric phenomena which came before me. Several times I
have been so fortunate as to witness, at Clermont, or on the top of
the Puy-de-D6me, the genesis or development of heavy showers, and
have fancied that I have detected some of the details or secrets of
their formation. In a pamphlet on this subject, which I published in
1885, I expounded the ideas whjch a large number of observations on
fog, drizzle, mist, rain, snow, sleet, and hail had suggested to me;
and by means of some of these ideas, the resultant of facts observed
hundreds of times, I hope to be able to explain the formation of
rain.

First, I must say that heat, and especially moisture, do not vary
in the lower part of the atmosphere in the way it was long thought.
At extreme altitudes the temperature of the air is very low, but the
cold does not increase regularly as we rise, and the same is the case
with the moisture. In high ascensions, or while sailing almost hori-
zontal courses, aeronauts traverse atmospheric regions alternately
warm and cold, dry and moist. Such anomalies present themselves
even near the surface. There are between eighty and a hundred days
every year in which a higher temperature is registered for a greater or
less length of time on the Puy-de-D6me than at Clermont. Sometimes
the difference is very great. Thus, on the 26th of December, 1879,
the temperature was — 16° C. at Clermont, while on the summit of
the Puy-de-D6me the thermometer marked +5° C, showing a dif-
ference of 21° in favor of the top of the mountain. Differences
of temperature of this kind occur everywhere. The moisture of the
air varies in the same way through the atmosphere. In ascending
or descending a few hundred metres, the hygrometer may be observed
to pass from dryness to saturation. At the altitude of the Puy-de-

* An address before the Society of Horticulture and Viticulture at Clermont-Ferrand.

9 o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Dome extreme moisture may succeed almost absolute dryness in a
few instants, in a clear sky and without any change of wind.

The parts of the atmosphere included within the same limits
of temperature or humidity therefore rarely form concentric or
parallel layers. They constitute regions interlacing zones which the
clouds, thick or scattered in groups, often mark to our eyes, show-
ing us those which are saturated with the vapor of water. The dis-
tribution of these zones in space depends chiefly on the heat action
of the sun, and upon preceding and present movements of the atmos-
phere. Now, if a certain increase of heat is adequate to melt a
piece of ice and to transform the water of the fusion into vapor,
in like manner a corresponding cooling may suffice to cause the
vapor to return to the state of a liquid and then to that of ice. The
processes in the atmosphere are not different, and all showers, results
of the more or less extensive condensation of the vapor of water,
may arise from the cooling of that vapor or of the water which
it produces.

A certain volume of atmospheric air is capable of holding in
suspension a quantity of water proportioned to the elevation of its
temperature. But, for each determined temperature, there is a maxi-
mum which can not be exceeded without the excess of vapor return-
ing to the liquid state. If, therefore, an atmospheric region is
saturated with vapor, and its temperature falls, that region will give
rain. Immense and superabundant causes for the cooling necessary
to provoke rain exist in such an atmosphere as we have described.
The cooling may take effect in three principal ways: first, by the
radiation of different regions between one another and toward inter-
planetary space, the temperature of which is extremely low, as has
been indicated by measurements made in high balloon ascensions;
second, by the expansion which air rising in the atmosphere under-
goes in being rarefied ; and, third, by the mingling of masses of warm
or moist air with cold or dry.

Cooling by mixture is the sufficient cause in the majority of
cases; and this may be effected from above, by descent of the air
from the upper regions; from below, by ascent, with the assistance
of rising currents created by solar radiations; or, finally, in any and
every direction under the influence of the winds and the general
movements of the atmosphere. Furthermore, the cooling need not
be very great in order to provoke rain under certain conditions of
temperature and humidity of frequent occurrence.

Eain clouds very frequently descend a little below the altitude
of the Puy-de-D6me. It is, therefore, not difficult, in order to deter-
mine the degree of cooling necessary for the formation of rain, to
take advantage of observations that have been made there. The

THE CAUSE OF RAIN.

9 1

hygrometer sometimes remains near saturation without there being
precipitation of vapor; and, supposing that the temperature is near
3° or 4° C, which is about the mean temperature of the year, it will
require a cooling of only one or two degrees centigrade at most
for the air to be unable to hold all its vapor and for the excess of it to
be transformed into rain. This is confirmed by experiment and ob-
servation.

I will • mention a remarkable example illustrating this point.
Not rarely, when the west wind is blowing violently on the top of the
Puy-de-D6me, an east wind, blowing opposite to it, prevails at Cler-
mont. Then an eddy is formed behind the plateau and the chain
of puys that runs from north to south, a little west of Clermont.
This eddy gradually becomes a vast whirlwind with a horizontal
axis, several leagues long, a few kilometres wide, and seven hundred
or eight hundred metres high. It commonly gives rise to an abun-
dant and continuous formation of black clouds, which appear in an
instant along its length, following its intersection with the upper
current. The phenomenon is frequent, and is sometimes produced
under very interesting conditions, as on a certain day when the tem-
perature at Clermont was five degrees above zero, centigrade, while
the hygrometer indicated that the air contained seven tenths of the
quantity of vapor required for saturation. Under such conditions the
temperature on the Puy-de-D6me would have only had to be a
very little above the freezing point for the vapor of the horizontal
eddy to be transformed into rain on meeting the upper current
coming from the west. Now, on the top of the mountain the ther-
mometer marked 4° C. below the freezing point. Hence, every time
the lower east wind increased a little, this having the effect of
carrying the vapor and the air of the lower regions a little higher, the
black clouds could be seen developing with a recrudescence of inten-
sity. A few instants afterward a torrential rain fell at Clermont.

In some cases — and such frequently occur in summer — the min-
gling of strata of air of different temperatures is effected by ascend-
ing currents. The sky is clear; the moist air in contact with the soil
is warmed under the action of the sun, rises, and more or less quickly
reaches a much colder stratum. " Light mists are formed; they may
frequently be seen rising and spreading out over the warmer or
moister spots. On the flanks of the Puy-de-D6me one may often
find himself among ascending currents of this sort which succeed
one another intermittingly when the air is calm, after a rain; they
rise with a velocity of four or five metres at least per second.

These fogs finally become stationary in a region of the same
density with themselves. There they accumulate and form a cloud
or a group of clouds that go on developing. When penetrated by the

92 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

rays of tlie sun, which they almost wholly absorb, these clouds are
warmed up again in the interior, and budding protuberances are
seen, which are especially developed on the upper parts of the cloud.
These protuberances are formed and grow so rapidly as to almost sug-
gest the presence of a steam generator within every cloud. The ex-
ternal parts of the cloud, however, cool very soon by radiation, evap-
oration, or dissolution, but especially by their contact with the cold
air, into which they continue going. Hence, when the vapors
emitted by the cloud reach its periphery, they are cooled at once as if
in a condenser; they then take on a rapid movement of descent,
which is easily distinguished, and suffer condensation in their lower
parts. As the surface of the cloud in contact with the cold all-
around it is considerable in proportion to that which receives the
influence of the solar rays, the warm ascending currents slacken speed
and are extinguished, because the cloudy mass, drawn on by the
higher currents, removes from the place where it is formed, or
because it stops the rays of the sun and prevents their reaching the
ground. There results a more and more complete condensation, and
the watery vapor is at last transformed into drops of rain. The con-
densation into rain is accelerated and augmented when the mass of
cloud rises with great rapidity, especially when it enters abruptly into
very cold atmospheric strata. A sudden mixture of the cloud with the
air around it takes place then, and sudden and abundant rains result
like those which are produced at the instant of thunderstorms.

The formation and mixture of masses of air of different tempera-
tures are effected by ascending currents in zones of restricted ex-
tent, but sometimes very numerous. Local showers and thunder-
storms are produced in this way. The phenomenon becomes much
more important and at the same time extends over vast regions, when
it is brought about by the aid of the wind and the larger movements
of the atmosphere, and general rains result.

Babinet, in his Studies on the Sciences of Observation, explains
the formation of rain by supposing that when the wind meets an
obstacle, it ascends; the moving air cools in rarefying, and deposits
its excess of vapor over saturation. This fact, when it occurs, should
indeed contribute to the condensation of the vapor contained in the
air; but it does not afford an adequate explanation of all rains; for,
first, how can it rain on the vast oceans which present no obstacles to
cause the air to ascend? It is necessary to suppose that internal
movements of the atmosphere intervene in the production of rain.

Monk, Mason, de Saussure, and many others fix the prime con-
dition for the formation of rain in the superposition of two beds of
cloud. This assertion, although it is still repeated in a number of
treatises on physics, is inexact. A single stratum of cloud — yes, a

THE CAUSE OF RAIN.

93

solitary cloud — has been seen, on the Puy-de-D6me, to produce rain
and lightning, with thunder.

Frequently, under the influence of the centers of perturbation
which often exist south of the Alps, a vast sea of clouds, the upper
face of which does not exceed an altitude varying from seven hun-
dred to twelve hundred metres, covers all central France, and proba-
bly other countries. Only the high table-lands and mountains rise
above this stratum of clouds over which the sun shines in a perfectly
clear skv. Yet rain is found in such strata of clouds, however homo-
geneous they may be, and it rains in the regions they cover. I
have long been able to affirm this fact, important because it destroys
old errors elaborated in the isolation of the study, and to support it
with authentic proof.

We may witness the formation of rain when we rise into the usual
region of the clouds, either in balloon ascents or by climbing moun-
tains.

The phenomenon may be observed under five aspects: First, we
may find ourselves in a fog of greater or less thickness, the hy-
grometer indicating that the air is nearly saturated with vapor, with-
out one being able to detect the fall of the smallest liquid particle,
and without exterior objects being moistened. Second, while we can
not observe the fall of a single liquid drop, however small, every-
thing enveloped in the cloud will be rapidly moistened. We are in
the atmospheric stratum where the rain is beginning to form. In-
habitants of mountainous regions say at such times that there is a
wet fog. At the top of the Puy-de-D6me, when this condition lasts
for a day, we can collect three, four, or five millimetres of water.
Third, we may remark, in the fog, the fall of exceedingly fine drop-
lets, which we can hardly distinguish — it is drizzling. Fourth, the
rain is falling, while we are still in the fog; and, fifth, the rain is
falling and we are below the fog — that is, below the clouds.

These five aspects may be present in the same cloud, when we
will find them in the order given in successive strata, one beneath an-
other; so that, entering such a cloud from the upper part, we may
traverse, in regular order, " dry " fog, wet fog, fog with drizzle, fog
with rain, and, as we leave the- cloud at the bottom, rain without
fog. Mr. Glaisher, the English scientific aeronaut, thus records his
experience in an ascension he made July 1, 1863: " We let ourselves
drop at eight hundred metres, and went into a fog which was dry for
the first thirty metres, but shortly afterward became moist. As we
descended, the fog seemed to become more charged with water, and
seemed very dark beneath us; at five hundred or six hundred metres
we heard the sound of the rain striking the trees, so violent was
the fall."

94 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Rain drops, in fact, grow as they fall, whether by continuance
of condensation, or by union with other drops. They should, there-
fore, be larger when they issue from the cloud in proportion as the
region where drizzle is formed is higher above the base of the cloud.
There is, however, a limit to the size they can attain, for the velocity
of their fall increases with their mass, and they are divided by the
resistance of the air.

The five aspects under which we have regarded the formation of
rain are evidently five phases distinguished by our senses in the
progressive transformation which the vapor of water undergoes in
passing to the liquid state. It also sometimes happens that the con-
densation of the vapor in a cloud can only reach the first or second
stage of the transformation without extending to the other stages.
At other times it stops at the third phase, that of drizzling, which
may then, as rain does, cross atmospheric regions below the cloud, and
reach the ground, provided the base of the cloud is not too high and
the air passed through is not too dry. In short, we may conclude
that the formation of rain is due simply to variations in the tem-
perature and moisture of the air. There is, however, another ele-
ment, the intervention of which is indispensable, if not to reduce the
vapor to water, at least to cause that water to fall in rain, or under
the form of drops. This element is the atmospheric dust.

"We designate generally as atmospheric dust all the corpuscles
which the atmospheric envelope of the earth holds in suspension;
but distinctions should be made. Some dust occurs in the air for-
tuitously and for the moment, such as troubles us in dry weather
when the wind is blowing. This is coarse, and so evident that we say
" It is dusty," and soon falls by its weight to the ground. There is
other dust which remains in the air almost permanently. It becomes
visible to the eye when illuminated against a dark background, as
when a sunbeam comes into a dark room. Other dust may be studied
under a microscope of low power; and still other, and the largest
proportion of that in the atmosphere, is so fine that it can not be dis-
tinguished, even with the most powerful instruments.

This extremely fine and light dust is disseminated to heights
that may exceed fifteen or twenty or more miles. Cyclones, volcanic
eruptions, and immense prairie fires are the principal causes of its
production and expansion in the atmosphere. Mr. Aitkin, a Scotch
meteorologist, has made some remarkable experiments to demon-
strate the existence of this dust. For that purpose he employed a
very ingenious method, which permitted him to count all the par-
ticles, even those which could not be seen with a microscope. The
principle of his method is as follows: If we fill a receiver with air
that has been deprived of all its dust by passing it through a liquid,

THE CAUSE OF RAIN. 95

and saturate it with vapor, and then by cooling cause the vapor to
condense, the resultant water is deposited directly. If the receiver is
filled with air not cleared of its dust, the cooling of the mixture of
air and vapor provokes first the formation of a fog that marks the
presence of dust, because each particle of dust becomes a nucleus, a
center of condensation, for the vapor. Finally, if the cooling is
carried far enough, the water formed falls in very fine droplets, each
one of which incloses a dust particle. Mr. Aitken has succeeded in
counting these droplets, by introducing only a very small volume of
dusty air into the receiver and finally filling it with absolutely pure
air. He has thus found that the external air contains on the average
32,000 particles of dust per cubic centimetre after a rain of con-
siderable duration, and 130,000 particles in fine weather. There
are 1,860,000 particles in the same volume of air in the middle of a
room, and 5,420,000 particles near the ceiling. The figures look
fanciful, but they are exact, for they have been corroborated by
numerous consistent experiments and agree with the determinations
that have been made by other methods.

As to the formation of rain, it should be observed that absolutely
pure air can not give either fog or drops of water when it is super-
saturated with vapor. If there were no dust in the atmosphere we
should have no clouds or rain. The sky would always be clear, and
the sun would shine uninterruptedly as long as it was above the
horizon. There would be no dawn or twilight, and day and night
would succeed one another instantly, without transition. Atmos-
pheric water would be deposited only when in contact with things, as
in Aitken's experiments, very much as dew is deposited.

The causes of the formation of rain are evidently the same every-
where. The secondary conditions change only according to climates ;
but they vary so much that rains are distributed very unequally
over the earth. According to Desanis, the quantity of vapor con-
tained in a column of air as high as the atmosphere would give, in
France, a layer of water about four centimetres thick. Few rain
storms would furnish so much; but there are storms sometimes that
give much more. On August 17, 1888, seven centimetres of water
fell at Clermont in five hours; and September 12, 1875, the pluvi-
ometer measured ten centimetres for the whole day. Still more
copious rains fall in some tropical countries; at Purneah, in India,
eighty-nine centimetres have fallen in twenty-four hours.

Mr. John Murray has calculated, from the charts of Elias Loomis,
that the quantity of rain falling every year over the whole earth
would form a bed of water averaging nine hundred and seventy mil-
limetres in depth.

When we consider the annual quantities of rain in particular

96 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

regions or localities, we find the numbers exceedingly variable, and
some of them surprising. Clermont receives 630 millimetres, and
the mean of the fall in Europe is about the same. About one metre
falls on the western coast of Iceland, two metres in Norway, 2.80
metres in Scotland, 4.60 metres at Vera Cruz, 5.20 metres at Buiten-
zorg, in the Dutch East Indies, 7.10 metres at Maranhao, Brazil, and
12.50 metres at Cherrapunji, in British India. On the other hand, it
rarely rains in some regions of the globe north and south of the equa-
tor; as in the center of the Sahara and of Arabia, the plateau of eastern
Persia and Beluchistan, the desert of Kalahari, and the desert of Ata-
cama. The plains or pampas of the eastern slopes of the Andes, in about
23° south latitude, are likewise subject to extreme droughts, in one
of which, lasting three years, three million head of cattle perished. —
Translated for the Popular Science Monthly from Ciel et Terre.

DREAM AND REALITY.

By M. CAM1LLE MELINAND.

THERE is a very striking resemblance between dreams and wak-
ing perceptions. We see in dreams objects, persons, and events
identical with those of the waking state. The belief in their reality
is as complete as in that of what we see when awake; the emotions
are as deep and vivid. Pleasures have a delicious savor, and pains are
even more intense than those of the reality — as, for instance, those
of nightmare, and the distresses to which we give ourselves up in
full. In all cases these dream troubles seem as real as those of life,
and are taken by us quite as seriously; and the existence of every-
thing we see and feel is as evident as in life.

Still we oppose the dream to the reality. The waking world is
our true, our only world; the world of the dream seems to us purely
interior and chimerical. The incoherence and absurdity of our
dreams surprise and amuse us, and we are amazed to find that we
have been able to believe, while asleep, in such foolish things. In
short, dreaming is synonymous to us with illusion, phantasmagoria,
and falsehood. The clearest of the prevailing theories about dreams
rest upon the postulate that waking perceptions are the true ones,
and the visions of the dream are false. They have answers to the
three questions we are used to ask concerning dreams — Where do
they come from? why are they incoherent? and why do we take their
visions for realities? They explain dreams as former sensations re-
viving within us under different combinations, and as therefore
simply confused reflexes of the reality. Dreams may, however, some-

DREAM AND REALITY.

97

times be produced by a present impression suffered by one of our
senses, half awakened — a contact, the way we are lying, and the con-
dition of the organic functions being thus the causes or occasions of
dreams. The incoherence of dreams seems no more mysterious in
these theories, and is explained as the result of two causes — the slum-
ber of the " reflecting " faculties, judgment, reason, the will, the
exercise of choice and control; and, secondly, the unrestricted reign
of imagination and the association of ideas. Our faith in the reality
of the things dreamed is accounted for by the mechanical play of
the images, the law being set up that every image that is not opposed
by stronger images appears to us a real object. The problem, there-
fore, resolves itself: the senses being asleep, the images that arise
within us are not contradicted by normal sensations, and that is why
we take them for realities. Further, our reflective faculties, being
likewise dormant, can not contradict the images, in the absence of
sensations, reasonings, or recollections. Hence a credence, as abso-
lute as unreasonable. We purpose to show that there is something
artificial and prejudiced in the classical theory of opposition between
dreams and waking, which assigns illusion, confusion, and incoher-
ence to the former, and solid and permanent reality to the latter, and
that the difference between them is not so clean cut.

Most persons in talking of this subject say that they are sure of
the reality of things when awake because their different senses con-
cur in attesting it. They see a tree, and satisfy themselves that it is
a tree by going up and touching it. They smell a rose, and go find
the rose, look at it and handle it; while in dreams we are not able
to apply these supplementary tests. The distinction is imaginary,
for our senses likewise seem to support one another in dreams. We
dream not only that we see an object, but also that we feel and hear
it. When I dream of meeting a friend, I believe that I see him
and shake hands with him and hear him speak. There is, therefore,
a complete identity of the two conditions as to this point, and the
thing that appears to me in a dream is a " bundle of sensations,"
visual, tactile, auditive, muscular, and often olfactory, just as it
appears to me when awake.

We are told of another difference. When awake, we find others
agreeing with us in recognizing the reality of things. I see a tree,
and so do those with me; I show it to them, and they look at it; I
feel of it, and they touch it ; I hear the rustling of the leaves, and so
do they. Our perceptions in practical life are thus tested by com-
parison with those of others, whereas in our dreams we have our
solitary and fanciful visions all within ourselves, with none to par-
ticipate in our perceptions of them.

This supposed contrast is no more real than the former one.

VOL. L1V. — 8

98 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

What is true is that when we are once awake we change our point
of view, and our vision of the night then seems to have been wholly
interior, solitary, and subjective. But, notwithstanding the com-
mon illusion, while we are dreaming affairs pass, to us, exactly as
when we are awake. It is true that in the waking state we find our-
selves mingled with other men, who perceive the same objects that we
do. Do we not sometimes dream that we are one of an audience
looking at a play? that we are talking with a friend, and exchange
views with him? and that we understand one another perfectly?
There is, therefore, in this aspect, not a difference but identity be-
tween the dream and the waking. The interior condition, the sen-
sation, the credence, are identical. The dreaming man believes, sees,
and feels himself in intercourse with his fellows, just as the man
awake believes, sees, and feels it. "When we wake, we discover our
mistake, but what of that? It does not prevent us from believing
completely in it while we are asleep. And this is the point; for,
after all, am I sure that I shall not awake some day from what I
now call my waking life? And who knows whether I shall not then
judge that I have been dreaming a solitary dream? It may be
added that the agreement of witnesses is not a decisive sign by which
to distinguish the reality from the dream. There are collective
hallucinations.

We come now to a more important difference, which includes the
principle and has a characteristic apparently essentially distinguish-
ing the dream — its looseness, disorder, inconstancy, and incoherence.
In the dream visions succeed one another without connection; no
law determines their order; an unrestricted fancy reigns among
them, and the normal is broken up in them at every point. We are
transported instantaneously from one country to another. We
pass without transition from childhood to age, and causes have the
strangest effects. The most essential laws of thought are constantly
violated. There are facts without any causes, metamorphoses, magical
disappearances. Even the absurd is realized, and the " principle of
contradiction " does not seem to be any more respected than the
others. We are at the same time in two places; we pronounce
words, we hold conversations of which we can not when we wake
recover the thread, so strange is their logic, so fugitive the sense,
and so fanciful the combination. A practiced psychologist, M. Del-
bceuf, succeeded in taking down in the morning the last phrase of
a book which he had been reading in a dream, and which had seemed
then remarkably lucid. Here it is : " The man raised by the woman
and separated by aberrations pushes facts disengaged by the analysis
of the tertiary nature into the way of progress."

Is this distinction, then — that the dream is incoherent and the

DREAM AND REALITY. 99

real rational — any more just than the others? It is doubtful if it is.
There are rare dreams in which everything proceeds in a regular and
natural way; and, on the other hand, reality is not always exempt
from capriciousness and improbability. But to me the capital objec-
tion to the distinction is that it is illusory, and the contrast be-
tween the disorder of dreams and the coherence of the real is only
apparent. The dream, it is true, appears disordered to us, but that
is when we are awake. An essential point which we always ignore
is that while we are dreaming everything seems simple and normal
and regular to us. We are not at all astonished at what happens.
We find it all right to be in two countries at the same time, and
we undersand very well how one person can be changed into an-
other. The conversations we have — those which are utterly un-
thinkable when we are awake — usually appear to us marvelously
lucid, and we admire the ease, the verve, and the luminous continu-
ity of our words. We enjoy that moving with so much suppleness
and precision among ideas; our demonstrations are infinitely con-
vincing; and it is perhaps in the dream that we have the most per-
fect sense of evidence.

Everything, then, that passes in the dream is — to the dreamer —
as natural as events in the waking condition. When awake, events
seem, without exception, natural and regular; they also seem natural
and regular in the dream. It is true that we find them absurd when
we wake, but what of that? They are absurd only by comparison,
as looked at from the point of view of the waking man, who is
no longer the same that he was when dreaming. Who can tell if
we shall not awake some day from what we now call our waking
condition, and that we shall not then find the events absurd that we
now consider rational and real? Who can tell that we shall not be
stupefied at having been so firmly attached to invisible phantoms
and disordered combinations?

In setting up a fourth distinction it is said that real life forms
a continuous whole, while dreams are not connected with one an-
other. The series of my days forms a single life, which holds to-
gether. I resume to-day my life of yesterday, and shall resume to-
morrow my life of to-day. While I am asleep, the course of it is
only suspended. I begin again in the morning at the very point
where I stopped in the evening. I find myself in the same medium,
occupied with the same thoughts, subject to the same cares, involved
in the same routine of events, the same storm of passions. The same
thread runs through it all. On the other hand, it is said, our dreams
do not form a consecutive existence. The dream of one night has
no connection with the dream of the previous night. On going to
sleep to-night I have no assurance that I shall find the landscapes

ioo POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

or the personages or the circumstances of my last dream. The most
diabolical nightmare may succeed a most delightful romance. In
short, not only is the form of the same dream incoherent, but our suc-
cessive dreams are incoherent as to one another. This was what
struck Pascal when he wrote : " If we dreamed the same dreams every
night, we should be affected by them as we are by things we see every
day; and if an artisan was sure to dream every night, for twelve
hours, that he was a king, I believe he would be nearly as happy as
a king who dreamed every night, for twelve hours, that he was an
artisan. . . . But because dreams are all different, and the same one
is so diversified, what we see in one affects us much less than what
we see when awake, because of the continuity of the waking life,
which is not so continuous and even, however, but that it changes,
too, though less abruptly, if only rarely, as when we travel ; and then
we say, ' It seems like a dream to me,' for life is a somewhat less
inconstant dream."

What are we to say to this distinction? I do not believe it is
necessary to take it seriously, any more than the others. When is it
that we pass judgment on the discontinuity and incoherence be-
tween our successive dreams? Not while we are dreaming them.
When I am dreaming, I seem to be pursuing a life that has always
been the same. I have no sort of an impression that the present
dream has been preceded by different dreams having no connection
with it. I have, on the contrary, exactly as I have when awake, the
impression of an indefinite and single series of events, of an unroll-
ing of them without arrest and without break. There is, therefore,
on this point, no difference, but another resemblance between the
dream and the reality, and the same impression of continuity and
unity prevails in both. It is true that the aspect changes in waking,
and our several dreams then appear detached from one another. But
what of that? Are we sure that we shall not awake some day from
what we now call the waking state, and find then that that state, con-
tinuous in appearance, was in reality composed of a series of separate,
incoherent, and incongruous fragments?

Thus we are all the time coming upon the same illusion. We
judge of the dream, not by what it is, but by what it seems to have
been after we have waked. Instead of observing the impressions of
the dreaming man while he is dreaming, we take notice of what he
thinks about them after he has waked up. This is to falsify the com-
parison of the normal and dream life by regarding the normal
life while we are in it, and the dream life when we have come
out of it. The several other difficulties on which psychologists have
insisted are capable of solution by the application of the same prin-
ciple: the seeming suspension of the will; the want of correspond-

DREAM AND REALITY. 101

ence of the moral standards of the dream with those of the wak-
ing condition; the confusion of temporal duration and sequence;
and the transformations of personality and character, concerning
which I would ask, however, if the eccentricities betrayed are not
rather in the nature of more complete exposure. I have some-
times been surprised at the psychological revelations of dreams;
faults and weaknesses that we do not avow when in the normal con-
dition reveal themselves then with inexorable frankness; we yield to
temptations that we evaded when awake, though inclined to them;
to wickednesses which we kept closely shut up within us; reveal
antipathies which we had dissimulated. Base desires break out, latent
loves declare themselves, and things take place which, as in a play,
bring the farthest depths of our hearts into the light; and when
we wake we say: " That is true; it is just what I should have done
under like circumstances. I had never thought of it, and I am not
proud of it, but it is so."

There is this real distinction between the dream and the waking
state: that when awake I know there is another condition, while in
the dream I take no thaught of the waking state. Awake, I know
that I have been living the fantastic dream life, and have come out
of it into a real life completely distinct from the other. I am in a
first state, and know there is a second. But when I am dreaming I
have no thought of another state that I have come out of and must
return to; I do not feel that there is another existence, radically
separated from this one; and I never compare the visions of my
dreams with my waking world, for I know nothing of it. I have the
impression of having always lived the life I am in, which seems
natural ; and even if I ask whether I am not dreaming, it is a merely
verbal expression, with no accompanying sense of the meaning
of it. Another distinction, and the only absolutely clear one, is
that while we always wake from the dream, we never wake from
the reality. This is why we believe in the reality and not in the
dream.

These two differences are differences in degree, but they do not
necessarily indicate differences in nature. Similar facts are frequent
among hypnotics. We may plunge them into a condition of som-
nambulism which we will call a second state; and then, from that,
magnetize them over again into another somnambulism, which we
call the third state. Now the curious fact comes to pass that the sub-
ject in the third state recollects the second state, but when in the
second state again, knows nothing of having been in the third state.
" Lucie 3," says M. Pierre Janet, " recollected her normal life per-
fectly; she also recollected previous somnambulisms, and all that
Lucie 2 had said. ... It was a long and hard task to awaken this

io2 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

subject after she had passed a few minutes in the syncope already
described. She then returned to ordinary somnambulism, but Lucie
2 could not tell me a word of what had happened to Lucie 3, and sup-
posed she had been asleep and said nothing." Thus we have the
same difference between two successive stages of somnambulism as
between the dream and the waking state. But as the stages 2 and 3
are evidently of the same nature, so we have a right to suppose that
the dream and the waking, whose phenomena as to each other are
similar, are likewise of the same nature.

In the ordinary experience of mankind we do not awake from
our normal condition; but is it proved that there is never any awaken-
ing, any third state into which we may pass? The supposition of
some such state into which we pass by death is one of the funda-
mentals of nearly all religions; and in this sense we might contem-
plate the possibility of an awakening in which we shall be astonished
at having given ourselves up so completely to the world of sense, at
having taken a passing state for the definite one, an ephemeral world
for the sole and absolute world, a provisional existence for the
real one.

Even among men as we find them, we see some making an ap-
proach to a third state, if not living in it. What is science but the
revelation of a new world, different from the visible one? When we
see light and colors, they tell us of an invisible ether with particles
vibrating with almost incalculable rapidity; when we hear faint or
loud sounds, sharp or grave, they tell of the more or less ample and
rapid vibrations of matter. When we perceive a multiple or varied
reality, it shows us the single phenomenon of motion. These formu-
las do not, however, signify, as some mistake, that light, color, and
sound do not exist, but that there is something else; and that if we
could gain new senses, a new universe would open out to us. This
means, simply, that the scientific man is already half waked up from
his ordinary life, and has half entered a new world.

Metaphysics is a waking up of this kind. A metaphysician who
really believes his doctrines, like Plato or Spinoza, is already liv-
ing in a new world and contemplating the supposed reality in which
we are still immersed as a matter of indifference away off in the
dim twilight. To him, what we regard as reality is only appear-
ance, while the eternal rain of atoms or the play of immaterial
forces, or whatever he supposes the world to be made of, is the true
reality.

Religion is another such awakening, and to the devout man this
life is only a provisional one, a trial, the prelude to the true life;
and while he may regard the world of sense as real too, he looks
forward to the superior reality, which it is the privilege of the elect

A PRACTICAL DUTCH CHARITY. 103

to contemplate ; and it is some feeling of this kind that has sustained
martyrs and has incited men of all ages and all faiths to suffer and
endure, and die for what they believe. — Translated for the Popular
Science Monthly from the Revue des Deux Mondes.

A PKACTICAL DUTCH CHARITY.

By J. H. GOEE.

HOLLAND, Scotland, and Switzerland, quite unlike physically,
have in their institutions many points of similarity, and the
impulses and character of their people are almost identical. In re-
ligious matters the resemblance is also striking, even though the
creed professed be known by different names.

In Scotland the struggle for existence demands something more
assertive than the doctrine of laissez faire; the terrible sweep of
the avalanche in Switzerland, without any apparent cause for its
starting, suggests an acceptance of the belief that " it is, because it
must be "; while Holland, in its incessant war with the sea, is con-
tinually bidding defiance to natural laws, and protesting against their
unrestrained action.

Calvinism found its strongest adherents in the two countries first
named, and the faith of Luther answering to the active instincts of
the Batavian race was at once adopted by it. In Holland as well
as in Switzerland man is ever reminded of life's realities by the
watchful care necessary for his very existence, and the material
obstacles which must be conquered at every step. Patriotism never
becomes dormant because the face of the land shows in its scars its
history, and love for home grows with each reckoning of the cost of
its retention. The possessions of one day are in many instances no
guarantee of the wealth of the next, and the hand now extended in
giving assistance may on the morrow be held out to receive. Thus
we find the charitable instincts always awake, and societies for the
relief of the needy thoroughly organized.

The conditions under which Holland began its geographic
formation and the processes afterward employed to hold or en-
large her boundaries, together with the social unrest of the time,
caused thoughtful men to put in operation every agency that could
direct the innate desire to do good and to give direction to the forces
within the kingdom, as well as those which came from without. In
Holland, therefore, we find numerous societies for the relief of suf-
fering humanity, and people ever ready to give due attention to
the complaints and necessities of the laboring classes. No other coun-

io 4 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

try offers such an excellent field for the study of charitable institu-
tions. The Dutch are eminently practical; they made an early be-
ginning in the work of alleviating distress, and this relief, from the
nature of things, as pointed out, is not spasmodic as in other countries
where nothing short of famine, earthquakes, or floods can awaken
the people to a realization of the duty they owe to mankind. Here
the call for aid may come at any time, so that those charitably in-
clined must be ever ready to respond, and the organizations for re-
lief can never become lax or inefficient.

Then, too, the population of the Netherlands is very homogene-
ous, and the leaders in all good works are not only administering to
their own people, but are unbiased by prior experiences under other
auspices. Consequently, this country furnishes institutions organized
under normal conditions, with an entire absence of external influ-
ences, and where the helped and the helpers are of the same race.

England, France, and Germany have sent commissions to Hol-
land to study its organized charity, its school system, workingmen's
societies, and like institutions. These countries have but little in
common, even though their forms of government are, or have been,
outwardly similar, while on the other hand we have always found in
the Dutchman " a friend and a brother," and an example well worthy
of following. And since it is only after examining remedies for evils
found without complications, that we can prescribe for abnormal con-
ditions, the study of Dutch institutions is the best possible prepara-
tion for arriving at the means for meeting the necessities in our own
country.

In Holland the general awakening to the demands of the people
came in the eighteenth century, when the social life was lacking in
strength, when the rich were largely given over to extravagance,
while the poor were neglected, uneducated, and exposed to want.
Everything seemed to separate the two classes — nothing emphasized
their interdependence. The citizen class was restive under these op-
pressive conditions, and needed only the successful example of some
neighboring people to start the revolution within their own country.

There was in the Netherlands at this time at least one thought-
ful man who foresaw the approaching social revolution and realized
the danger which threatened his native land if unaccustomed rights
and powers should become the possession of those who heretofore
had felt the power of others. This man was Jan Nieuwenhuizen, the
founder of the Society of General Welfare. It is impossible to esti-
mate the good which has been accomplished by this organization. It
instituted free schools, and gave to the state the scheme on which
the present public-school system rests; it established savings banks,
and the Postal Savings Bank — now the model of the world — was

A PRACTICAL DUTCH CHARITY. 105

glad to copy after them; it conducts a sort of neighborhood loaning
banks, and it is likely that its plans will be incorporated in the agri-
cultural banks now under consideration. Through its instrumental-
ity people of different classes are brought together in periodical meet-
ings, when the lower can learn by observation from the higher, and
lose much of the prejudice and envy which is so often felt, while the
higher will become more tolerant toward the lower as they realize
the burdens which the latter carry, and appreciate the obstacles which
mar their progress, thus leveling many of the artificial class distinc-
tions.

What this society has done for Holland, " Ons Huis " is trying
to accomplish in Amsterdam; and though the latter is occupying a
more limited field, its energies are more concentrated and its methods
are such as to warrant its characterization as a practical charity.

The founder of " Our House," Mr. Janssen, fully realized that
outright giving while blessing the giver is of questionable value to
the recipient, and alms once accepted suggested in the ease with which
it was obtained that a second be asked for, and the feeling of de-
pendence soon calls into existence the belief that the uncontracted
debt of a living must be collected. We therefore find a charitable
organization in which everything must be purchased, but at cost so
slight as to be within the reach o fall, yet being a charge, no benefit
is esteemed for naught because it was obtained for nothing.

We find this unique society in a sort of " people's palace " in the
very center of Amsterdam's working population. The building,
which is the gift of Mr. Janssen, is on Rozen Street, JSTos. 12, 14, and
16, extending through to Rozen Gracht, and contains a board room,
reading room, library, gymnasium, lecture room, assembly rooms,
large hall, kitchen, quarters for the janitor's family, and a res-
taurant.

The purpose is declared to be " to promote the moral and material
development of the people — poor as well as rich — both in giving and
receiving by inducing those who are blessed with knowledge or
money to assist their fellow-beings whose lives are monotonous and
devoid of comforts and pleasures." The very name — " Our House "
— is intended to show that withimits walls all enjoy equal rights, that
the less learned are the younger members of the family whom the
less ignorant will gladly instruct, and that the purposes and aims of
all classes should be the same. Both sexes have equal privileges, and
the religious and political views of those who attend the meetings or
enjoy the benefits offered are never inquired into. The adherents
of all faiths are treated with equal deference, and the only condition
imposed is the observance of such principles of etiquette as should
find favor in every home.

106 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Since the day of rest of the various religious sects is not the same,
all days are regarded as of equal importance, but, to meet the objec-
tions of the Protestant clergy that the exercises here kept people away
from the church services, it has been decided not to open the building
on Sundays until noon. But as the hours of employment of many per-
sons are so long that their evenings are not free, the reading room is
open on this day after the hour named, and certain instructive lectures
are given during the afternoon. At these the average attendance is
about five hundred. A strong effort was made to have the building
closed during the whole of Sunday, however. The argument was
made that as long as beer gardens and places of amusement were open
on this day, the people should not be restricted on the only holiday
of the week to those places where money is spent for trifling pleasures.
The large number of persons who spend Sunday afternoon in the
reading room proves that the opportunity to make good use of their
time is fully appreciated.

Before giving in detail the plan of work in hand, it should be
said that the director has secured the assistance of about one hundred
and fifty men and women who are willing to contribute their time
to the furthering of the purposes as outlined. They are divided into
fourteen groups, or committees, each looking after a single interest.
The means as at present constituted for attaining the ends in view
may be classified as follows :

1. Reading room for men and women not under eighteen years
of age; open daily.

2. Wednesday evening lectures on literature, history, physics,
pedagogy, political economy, and travel. These lectures are open for
debate.

3. Courses of lectures on different topics for men and women
separately, or for both together. These discussions are marked by
an intimate tone.

4. Sunday evening meetings : musical or theatrical performances,
magic-lantern pictures, tableaux, etc. These are given in the large
hall, which accommodates five hundred and twenty-five persons.

5. Legal advice.

6. Clubs for boys, girls, men, and women. Friendly intercourse.
Discussions on scientific subjects. Chess club. Travel club.

7. Lessons in Dutch, French, English, and German, bookkeeping,
reading and writing for adults, needlework, mending, making and
cutting of one's own clothes, cooking, drilling for boys and girls,
fencing, acting, chorus singing.

The reading room is provided with a large number of daily and
weekly papers, magazines, and technical journals, together with such
books as could be purchased or obtained as donations. The user of

A PRACTICAL DUTCH CHARITY. 107

the reading room pays ten cents a quarter, with the privilege of bring-
ing one friend a week as a guest. Every conceivable device is em-
ployed to induce visitors to make use of the books; for example, the
lecturers frequently choose a literary topic, and refer to the books in
the library, or one of the members of certain manual-training classes
read aloud while the others work. Then some of the social evenings
are given up to the discussion of a new or popular author, and per-
sons skilled in reading aloud are asked to read or recite choice ex-
tracts. To accommodate those who feel that three months' sub-
scription is for too long a period, the regular admission fee of two
Dutch cents — equivalent to eight tenths of a cent of our money —
gives the right to make use of the library during the visit. It now
looks as though the impulse to secure a shortening of the work day
would come from this organization in its desire to secure for its bene-
ficiaries a longer time in which to profit by the use of the books and
special opportunities for study here placed at the disposal of the work-
ingmen. The reading room is looked after by a committee of twenty,
some of whom are always present to give aid and advice to the readers,
to answer such questions as may arise, and to keep the books and
papers in place.

The lectures conducted in Our House are of a twofold character —
individual discourses and a series of discussions of a given topic.
Every Wednesday evening between November and April is provided
with a speaker by the lecture committee, who treats in a popular man-
ner a subject of his own choice, and allows the auditors at the close
of his talk to ask questions regarding the topic in hand. The aver-
age number of persons attending these lectures last winter was about
three hundred, and the charge for a single admission is two cents,
with a considerable reduction when four or six tickets are purchased
for one family. In the course lecture the most popular topic so far
has been natural science, especially botany, physics, and chemistry.
In this connection it is interesting to note that the luxuriant flora
of the East Indies, with which the Dutch became acquainted long
ago, gave an impetus in Holland to the study of botany. The people
of all classes are fond of plants and flowers, and it is not surprising
to learn that twenty persons followed a course of instruction in
botany. A prominent physician of Amsterdam gave a course of ten
lectures upon " The Eirst Aid to the Injured," and eighty men and
women profited by the practical discussion of this subject. The cost
of these lectures is four cents apiece.

Somewhat related to the above are the concerts, Sunday evening
meetings, and performances of various kinds which are given under
the auspices of the appropriate committees. Perhaps one of the most
profitable evenings of the winter is when manufacturers and em-

io8 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

ployers are invited to meet those of the working class who may wish
to be present to discuss in an informal manner questions of common
interest. Under the genial leadership of Mr. Janssen and the di-
rector, much of the restraint usual on such occasions is thrown aside
and the employer and employee sit side by side, and each listens to
the undreamed opinions and experiences of the other. At one of
these meetings the question of a shorter work day was discussed from
the standpoint of the employer, the laborer, and the humanitarian.
The investigations of our own Bureau of Labor were quoted to
show the benefits resulting from a shortening of the day of work,
and it is more than likelv that the outcome of the discus-
sion will be an intention on the part of the manufacturer to curtail
the hours of work just as soon as possible, while the laborers, in learn-
ing of obstacles of which they were ignorant, will await more pa-
tiently the action desired.

The classes or individual pupils contribute their services to the
committee in charge of entertainments. This committee sees to it
that three Sunday evenings of each month are provided for, either
from the ranks of home talent or with the aid of outside artists. In
the concerts some of the best performers of the land have gladly
taken part, and the music of the greatest composers has been heard
here. As in all other cases, there is a charge for admission — four
cents for one and six cents for man and wife. A feature here in
vogue might well be copied. In arranging the selections for a con-
cert the effort is made to always include at least one popular piece,
or a song of national, artistic, or patriotic interest; then on the pro-
gramme the words of this song are printed. The audience may be
asked to join in the chorus, but even if this is not practical the people
can catch the air, and with the words before them in later days they
can make melody in their homes. If we recall the class of people
for whom these provisions are made, and keep in mind the limited
avenues of enjoyment open to them, we will appreciate the boon of
such a considerate act.

It might be tedious to enumerate the various classes here con-
ducted, and give even in brief an outline of the methods, experi-
ences, and results. Each lesson costs from two to four cents, and the
pupils — many of whom have reached middle life — show a commend-
able zeal in prosecuting their studies. However, two topics deserve
mention — the lessons in mending and in cooking. Since it is the
poorer people who are to be benefited by the work of Our House, les-
sons in economy are needed, if not demanded, and the earlier oppor-
tunities for acquiring these lessons have been meager. The authori-
ties have therefore wisely decided to so instruct the housewives of
these people that their clothing may look well even if mended and

A PRACTICAL DUTCH CHARITY. 109

the family meals be palatable though simple. It is believed that the
result of such teaching will make many homes more attractive, and
keep the men from seeking outside of the house conditions which
they should find within.

The clubs also serve as valuable adjuncts to the work in hand.
They are usually groups of persons of the same sex and near the same
age who meet under the guidance of some experienced man or woman
for social intercourse, for practice in debate, playing of chess, the
reading of some standard author, or the discussion of places and peo-
ples. In all of these meetings, as well as under all circumstances, the
people in attendance are taught polite behavior by example rather
than precept, and every precaution is taken to avoid any reflection
or invidious comparisons that might tend to keep away the people
whom Our House is intended to benefit.

A word might be said about the travel club. Early in each
autumn a proposition is made that during the following summer a
trip will be taken to such and such places, usually naming one near
by, within the kingdom, and another farther away, as Brussels or
the upper Rhine. Persons desiring to visit either of the places named
unite in forming a club. They meet at stated times to listen to ac-
counts of the place selected, its historical associations, and the points
of interest en route, and also to pay into the treasury an amount
agreed upon. For example, last summer one club, upon the saving
of a cent a week by each member, was able to go to Haarlem and
spend the day in seeing the city and the many places of interest in
the neighborhood. In another, each member contributed ten cents
a week, and the club was able to make a two days' trip to Brussels.
By this simple means persons otherwise unable to go beyond the
confines of their native city have the opportunity to get at least a
glimpse of the outside world, and under such conditions and with
such special preparations as to obtain from the trip the maximum
interest and profit.

The only thing that is free in Our House is legal advice and
the writing of legal documents. In Amsterdam, as elsewhere, the
poorer people have too frequently an exaggerated idea as to their
rights, and rush into " law " for fatuous protection. Such persons
are liable to fall into the hands of unprincipled lawyers who help
to nurse the fancied wrong and encourage a suit for damages, or put
up an idle defense for the sole purpose of winning a fee. To protect
this class by giving them the most unselfish advice possible, a number
of the best lawyers of the city have cheerfully offered their services,
and every Thursday evening from eight to twelve o'clock one or
two stand ready to give gratuitously the best advice they can upon
such legal points as may be presented. That this service is appre-

no POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

ciated may be seen in the fact that from ten to twenty persons profit
by this privilege every evening. On this evening persons are present
for the purpose of writing letters for those unable to write, and also
to draw up legal documents for such as need them.

Mr. Adma van Scheltema — a name closely identified with every
good work in Amsterdam— has organized in Our House art loan
exhibits. For one half of the days during which the exhibit is open
there is no charge for admission, while a slight fee is exacted on the
other days. From these exhibitions much pleasure as well as instruc-
tion has been derived, and, located in a section which sends but few
visitors to the art museums, one can realize that they perform a good
work, as missionaries in cultivating the people's taste.

Such is, in short, an account of a practical charity — a charity,
in truth, not because something is furnished for nothing, but that so
much is given in return for so little. During the past year more than
three thousand persons were registered as enjoyers of the privileges
offered. Mr. Janssen gave the building and in one sense endowed
the work; Mr. Tours gives his time, wisdom, and energy in direct-
ing its affairs ; they both ask the wiser men and women of the city to
give a few hours of each month or year. They have not asked in
vain, and the cheerful responses give promise of the coming of the
time when the only answer to the question, " Am I my brother's
keeper? " will be an energetic " Yes."

SKETCH OF FRANK WIGGLESWORTH CLARKE.

THE great advance which chemical science has made in the
United States during the past thirty years has been brought
about by the joint operation of several factors, of which we may
mention the formation and the influence of chemical societies seeking
to further its development, the intelligent labors of individual in-
vestigators cultivating special fields, and the systematic pursuit of
experimental work with reference to certain definite results. In this
shaping of chemical research in such a way as to make it most
efficient, the work and influence of Frank Wigglesworth Clarke have
been prominent and important. His own labors have been indus-
triously and unselfishly pursued with an eye to the advancement of
the science, and their value has been generally recognized. It seems
as if he had taken to himself a hint thrown out in one of his earlier
scientific papers, and, giving up the transient glory of brilliant ex-
periments, had devoted himself to setting the science as far forward
as possible in single branches.

SKETCH OF FRANK WIGGLESWORTH CLARKE, m

Professor Claeke was born in Boston, March 14, 1847, and was
graduated from the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard Univer-
sity in 1867. Two years later, in 1869, he was appointed instructor
in chemistry in Cornell University, the first assistant ever appointed
at that institution. His next position was that of professor of chem-
istry and physics in Howard University, Washington, in 1873 and
1874. In the latter year he became professor of chemistry and
physics in the University of Cincinnati, in a position which he held
till 1883, when he became chief chemist to the United States Geo-
logical Survey and honorary curator of minerals in the United States
National Museum, where he still remains.

in the American Journal of Science for March, 1869. Other im-
portant papers have related to analytical methods, to the constitu-
tion of the tartrates of antimony, and to topics on chemical min-
eralogy, including especially the constitution of the silicates.

Many of his popular articles relate to educational affairs, and
present forcible arguments for a fuller recognition of science in the
course of instruction, and cogent demonstrations of the need of
better teaching of science and better qualified teachers. When occa-
sion has arisen, he has fearlessly exposed and denounced humbug
in education. In a paper on The Higher Education, published in
the seventh volume of the Popular Science Monthly, having defined
the purpose of true education as being " to develop the mind ; to
strengthen the thinking faculties in every possible direction; to
render the acquisition of new knowledge easier and surer; to in-
crease the student's resources; and to render him better fitted for
dealing with the useful affairs of the world," he sets forth the advan-
tages of science over the ancient and even the modern languages for
the accomplishment of it. Science, he reasons, furnishes as good

no POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

ciated may be seen in the fact that from ten to twenty persons profit
by this privilege every evening. On this evening persons are present
for the purpose of writing letters for those unable to write, and also
to draw up legal documents for such as need them.

Mr. Adma van Scheltema — a name closely identified with every
good work in Amsterdam — has organized in Our House art loan
exhibits. For one half of the days during which the exhibit is open
there is no charge for admission, while a slight fee is exacted on the
other days. From these exhibitions much pleasure as well as instruc-
tion has been derived, and, located in a section which sends but few
-uici+rwa +n fhp art miispnms. nnp pflri realize that thev nerform a ffood

ERRA TA.

SKETCH OF PROF. F. W. CLARKE.

Page in, first line : For March 14, read March 9.

fourteenth line: For 1875-76, read 1873-74.
seventeenth line: For 1876, read 1874.

For Detroit, read Hartford,
twentieth line: For 1888, read 1878.
twenty-seventh line: For 1869, read 1868.

SKETCH OF FKAKK WIGGLESWORTH CLAKKE.

THE great advance which chemical science has made in the
United States during the past thirty years has been brought
about by the joint operation of several factors, of which we may
mention the formation and the influence of chemical societies seeking
to further its development, the intelligent labors of individual in-
vestigators cultivating special fields, and the systematic pursuit of
experimental work with reference to certain definite results. In this
shaping of chemical research in such a way as to make it most
efficient, the work and influence of Frank Wigglesworth Clarke have
been prominent and important. His own labors have been indus-
triously and unselfishly pursued with an eye to the advancement of
the science, and their value has been generally recognized. It seems
as if he had taken to himself a hint thrown out in one of his earlier
scientific papers, and, giving up the transient glory of brilliant ex-
periments, had devoted himself to setting the science as far forward
as possible in single branches.

SKETCH OF FRANK WIGOLESWORTH CLARKE, in

Professor Claeke was born in Boston, March 14, 1847, and was
graduated from the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard Univer-
sity in 1867. Two years later, in 1869, he was appointed instructor
in chemistry in Cornell University, the first assistant ever appointed
at that institution. His next position was that of professor of chem-
istry and physics in Howard University, Washington, in 1873 and
1874. In the latter year he became professor of chemistry and
physics in the University of Cincinnati, in a position which he held
till 1883, when he became chief chemist to the United States Geo-
logical Survey and honorary curator of minerals in the United States
National Museum, where he still remains.

Professor Clarke, having become a member of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science in 1869, assisted, in
1875— '76, in the organization of its section on chemistry, a branch
which had theretofore been but little represented in the Proceedings
of the association. Prof. S. W. Johnson was elected chairman of
the new section for the meeting in 1876 at Detroit, and Professor
Clarke was commissioned to make the necessary efforts to insure a
full attendance of chemists and others interested in the applications
of chemistry. In 1888 he presided over the section; and he has
ever been active in building it up, and in the development of the
American Chemical Society.

Professor Clarke has published about seventy-five scientific
papers in various journals, and many popular articles, especially in
Appletons' Journal and the Popular Science Monthly. His first sci-
entific paper, A New Process in Mineral Analysis, was published
in the American Journal of Science for March, 1869. Other im-
portant papers have related to analytical methods, to the constitu-
tion of the tartrates of antimony, and to topics on chemical min-
eralogy, including especially the constitution of the silicates.

Many of his popular articles relate to educational affairs, and
present forcible arguments for a fuller recognition of science in the
course of instruction, and cogent demonstrations of the need of
better teaching of science and better qualified teachers. When occa-
sion has arisen, he has fearlessly exposed and denounced humbug
in education. In a paper on The Higher Education, published in
the seventh volume of the Popular Science Monthly, having defined
the purpose of true education as being " to develop the mind; to
strengthen the thinking faculties in every possible direction; to
render the acquisition of new knowledge easier and surer; to in-
crease the student's resources; and to render him better fitted for
dealing with the useful affairs of the world," he sets forth the advan-
tages of science over the ancient and even the modern languages for
the accomplishment of it. Science, he reasons, furnishes as good

112 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

an instrument for cultivating the memory, and has the additional
advantage of strengthening the perceptive powers too, for in it the
eye, the ear, and all the instruments of the senses are trained to
observe facts accurately, as they are not trained to so great a degree
in language study. It again takes the lead in the cultivation of the
pure reason; for it gives grand laws and generalizations already
deduced or in process of deduction. " The discovery of these natural
laws may be counted among the greatest achievements of the human
mind. To follow out the processes by which they were discovered
gives the mind its most rigid training, and elevates the tone of
thought in many other respects. The intellect becomes self-reliant
and yet conscious of its own weak points." Also, in aesthetic devel-
opment, scientific education is put foremost. " The true student of
Nature and her phenomena ever sees order and symmetry coming
out of chaos, and finds the rarest beauty hidden where to the un-
aided eye naught but ugliness exists. . . . Can any student, who
looks upon the universe with vision thus unobscured, fail to find
in his studies the truest aesthetic culture? " But it had been alleged
that the scientific courses had been tried in many American colleges
and found less fruitful than the classical. In answer to this the
author considered the character of most American colleges, the
qualifications of many professed teachers and the methods of study,
and showed that these, as they actually were, were not competent
for the conveyance of genuine scientific instruction.

By the multiplication of competing colleges putting sectarian
interests in the foremost place, the means were divided up and frit-
tered away, which, concentrated in one institution, would hardly
be enough to enable it to do really effective work. " Each college
acts as a drag on all the others. Libraries, cabinets, and faculties
are uselessly duplicated. Naturally, one result of this state of affairs
is a lowering of educational standards. . . . Since, on account of
this foolish division of forces, most of these colleges are inadequately
endowed, they are compelled to work short-handed. One professor
has frequently several branches to teach. ... In the majority of
cases there is a chair of Latin, a chair of Greek, and then — a chair
of l Natural Science.' Each linguistic professor is to some degree
a specialist; while the one who teaches science is perforce compelled
to be a smatterer. He is expected to teach half a dozen dissimilar
branches, each one being a life work by itself. He is to be omniscient
on about a thousand dollars a year."

That the character of these institutions, as well as their poverty,
was detrimental to the advancement of scientific education was more
fully shown in another article on American Colleges vs. American
Science, in the ninth volume of the Monthly. The colleges were

SKETCH OF FRANK WIGGLFSWORTH CLARKE. 113

described as being to a large extent denominational institutions,
" equipped and endowed with due reference to tbe perpetuation of
sound faith, and incidentally to the encouragement of what is sup-
posed to be learning. . . . The very fact that a college has been
established for theological purposes, or for ecclesiastical aggrandize-
ment, is adverse to good scientific research. . . . Every year pro-
fessors are chosen, not on account of scientific ability, but for reasons
of a theological or sectarian character. If two men, one a Baptist
and the other a Unitarian, were candidates for the same professor-
ship in a Baptist university, the former, even if very much inferior
to his rival, would almost certainly be elected. . . . Theological
soundness in such an institution far outranks scientific ability. If
Laplace had lived in America, no college would have tolerated him
for an instant. Almost any decayed minister, seeking an asylum,
would have beaten him in the race for a professorship."

These conditions were shown to have necessarily a bad effect
upon American science, and to be not likely to arouse or encourage
the scientific spirit. The student " becomes accustomed to regard
the sciences as comparatively unimportant," and " graduates in com-
plete ignorance both of the methods and of the aims of science, hav-
ing learned only a few disconnected facts concerning the great world
about him."

Improvement in these conditions, the author argued, must come
partly from within and partly from without. The colleges must
reform their ways, and, not being likely to do it spontaneously, must
be hepled — by pressure of public sentiment and, later, of legis-
lation. This suggestion proved to be introductory to that of a very
important line of work, for the furtherance of which Professor Clarke
seems never to have been able to labor too earnestly and industri-
ously.

" But how," he says, " should public sentiment be properly
shaped and made available for service? How is the natural, though
slow, growth to be fostered and directed? Mainly by the efforts,
organized and individual, of scientific men. Personally, every
worker in science should strive to awaken in the community about
him a comprehension of the value and purposes of his particular
branch. In other words, the real investigators ought to do more
toward popularizing their discoveries instead of leaving that task
to amateurs or charlatans. At present, unfortunately, too many
able scientific men depreciate popular work and hold aloof from it.
They do nothing themselves to interest the public, and then lament
the fact that the public does not become interested. Yet just here
is where the beginning must be made. With a wider public interest
in science will come deeper public appreciation, and this will de-
VOL. LIV. 9

ii4 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

velop the tendencies necessary for the improvement of our colleges
and schools. Until the people see and recognize the difference be-
tween true investigators and mere collectors of specimens, between
original workers and text-book authors, little real progress will be
made."

While these pictures were correct, when made, of a very large
number of American colleges, a vast improvement has taken place
since the articles were written in the quality of instruction given;
but there yet remain too many institutions to which they are still
not inapplicable.

This was not the beginning of Professor Clarke's efforts to show
men of science that the true interests of their cause lay in their
making their knowledge easily accessible to the public. In the first
volume of the Monthly he had an article on Scientific Dabblers,
the purpose of which, as he defined it, was, after calling attention
to the silly character of much that was called " popular science," to
urge upon true scientific men the importance of rendering real
' knowledge more accessible to the masses. There is a demand for
science, he said, " or the trash which is written would not be read.
It works into nearly all departments of common life, and is, in one
way or another, of interest to almost every one. Yet, as I have
already said, the current popular lectures upon scientific topics are
frothy and worthless; the theologian often misrepresents science for
partisan purposes; and the newspapers, with all the good they
may do, are too frequently conducted by those ignorant of all sci-
ence. The people ask for knowledge, and unwittingly get much
chaff with their wheat. . . . Therefore it seems to be time that
true students of science should seek to popularize their learning. . . .
Men of science constantly lament that the Government does not
extend more aid to scientific research. The Government is a popular
one, and the people must be trained before its help can be expected.
Therefore it is for the interest of the teachers, as well as for the
good of the people, that scientific truths should be popularly
put forward in simple, untechnical language, and made accessible
to all."

Later, in his chairman's address before the Chemical Subsection
of the American Association, in 1878, he had this subject in mind,
and mentioned it as part of the work of the section " to attract
public attention to the subjects that interest us, and to do what we
can to secure for chemistry a wider appreciation and greater means
for development. ... If the general public," he said later in his
address, " is not interested in chemistry, it is because we as chemists
have neglected a part of our duty. We have but to speak, in order
to .command the public ear."

SKETCH OF FRANK WIGGLESWORTH CLARKE.

"5

Another side of scientific advancement to which Professor
Clarke's working life has proved him much attached is presented
in this address at the American Association meeting of 1878, and
more minutely as to the particular point we have in mind in an
article on Laboratory Endowment, in the tenth volume of the Popu-
lar Science Monthly. In the association address he insisted strongly
upon the physical side of chemical research, stated briefly as the
study of the phenomena which occur during the reactions in chem-
ical experiments, or of the transformations of energy, and upon the
importance of the co-ordination of studies separately pursued to the
systematic and permanent advancement of the science; for which
purpose he considered endowed laboratories for research extremely
desirable. In such laboratories adequate corps of thorough special-
ists should co-operate in those investigations which individuals could
not undertake; every worker should be assigned to definite, positive
duties, the accurate and careful performance of which would eventu-
ally be sure to advance exact knowledge. The work would be hard
routine, and the real value of the institution would be independent
of everything sensational, and would rest upon considerations of the
most severely practical kind. As an example of such work he men-
tioned the study of the connection between the composition of a
substance and its physical properties. Supposing this taken up sys-
tematically by a well-organized body of investigators, the first step
would be to determine, carefully and with the utmost rigor, the
physical properties of the elements. Each one of these substances
would have to be isolated in quantity and in a chemically pure con-
dition, such as has never been attained as to some — a labor which
would of itself involve a great amount of research. Then would
come the measurement of physical relations, thermal, electrical, op-
tical, magnetic, mechanical, and so on; and the determination of all
their " constants " under widely varied conditions, notably of pres-
sure and temperature; labors which would in many cases involve
the comparative testing of various methods of research, and often
the invention of new experimental processes. The number of ele-
ments and of their compounds which should be taken up in some
regular order, series by series, would afford almost illimitable fields
of research to large numbers of students; all of whom, if labor-
ing under some plan of systematic co-operation, might contribute
directly and efficiently to the perfection of the science. " One chem-
ist might undertake to furnish certain of the elements in a perfectly
pure condition; another might carefully determine under varying
circumstances their densities and rates of expansion; a third could
work up their latent and specific heats; a fourth their electrical
relations, and so on. Failure to attain grand results would be ini-

n6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

possible. Doubtless the labor would prove irksome and monotonous,
but the reward would be sure. In five years, more would be done
toward rendering chemistry an exact science than can be accom-
plished in a century by means of chemical investigations at present
most in vogue." Chemists engaging in work of this kind would
have to make sacrifices, for it would offer little promise of sensa-
tional reputations to be gained through dazzling discoveries, and
would have to look to the ultimate glory of the science for their
chief reward.

Professor Clarke has not omitted to practice what he thus
preached; and while he has not failed to win honors in other fields
of the science, has made it the chief work of his scientific life to
advance toward solution one of the physical problems of chemistry
indicated above. He has taken as his special field of research the
" constants," and of these, the one which is perhaps the most funda-
mental of all, the revision of the atomic weights — not by experi-
ments of his own so much as by comparison and criticism of the
work of all who have undertaken the task, eliminating errors and
finding from the sum of the whole what is the nearest deducible
approach to accuracy. In 1872 he sent to the Smithsonian Institu-
tion a compilation entitled A Table of Specific Gravities, Boiling
Points, and Melting Points for Solids and Liquids. This was ac-
cepted by Prof. Joseph Henry, who made it the first publication of
a projected series to be called The Constants of Nature. To this
series Professor Clarke has since contributed Tables of Specific
Heats, of Expansions, and a Recalculation of the Atomic Weights.
A new edition of the Specific Gravities was issued in 1886, and a
second edition of the Atomic Weights in 1897. For the past five
years Professor Clarke has contributed an annual report on atomic-
weight determinations to the Journal of the American Chemical
Society, giving each year a consistent table of values brought thor-
oughly down to date. These tables are now used in all parts of the
world as standards for reference.

As chemist of the United States Geological Survey, Professor
Clarke has published ten official bulletins of work done in the
laboratory under his charge, of which Bulletin 125, The Constitu-
tion of the Silicates, and Bulletin 148, Analyses of Rocks and
Analytical Methods, by F. W. Clarke and W. F. Hillebrand jointly,
are the most important. Other works are: Weights, Measures, and
Money of All Nations, 1875; The Elements of Chemistry, a school
text-book, 1884; and a Report on the Teaching of Chemistry and
Physics in the United States, published by the United States Bureau
of Education in 1881.

A paper published by him in the Popular Science Monthly for

SKETCH OF FRANK WIGGLES WORTH CLARKE. 117

January, 1873 (Volume II), on Evolution and the Spectroscope,
showed that the evolution of the planets from nebulae was possibly
accompanied by an evolution of the chemical elements. This was
nearly a year in advance of Lockyer's first paper suggesting the same
general view. The discussion of this subject was taken up again in
the eighth volume of the Monthly (February, 1876), in an article,
Are the Elements Elementary? in which the author, after showing-
how subtle connections significant of unity run through them all,
inquired : " If the elements are all in essence one, how could their
many forms originate save by a process of evolution upward? How
could their numerous relations with each other, and their regular serial
arrangements into groups, be better explained? In this, as in other
problems, the hypothesis of evolution is the simplest, most natural, and
best in accordance with facts. Toward it all the lines of argument
presented in this article converge. Atomic weights, specific volumes,
and spectra, all unite in telling the same story, that our many ele-
ments have been derived from simpler stock." These views were
admitted to be speculative but not baseless. " Science is constantly
reaching forward from the known to the unknown, partly by careful
experiment and partly by the prophetic vision of thought." Then,
speculation upon such questions " is not altogether unprofitable. The
time spent in conjectures and surmises is not wholly wasted, for
it is impossible to follow up any of the lines of thought thus opened
without reaching some valuable suggestions which may pave the
way to new discoveries. New truth, in one direction or another, is
sure to be reached in the long run. So, then, we may proceed to
theorize in the most barefaced manner without entirely quitting
the legitimate domain of science." An article on The Present
Status of Mineralogy, in the thirty-second volume of the Month-
ly, presents the mutual bearings of that study and chemistry and
geology.

Professor Clarke contributed the chapter Element to the last
edition of Watts's Dictionary of Chemistry. He was made president
of the Washington Chemical Society in 1885, and of the Philo-
sophical Society of Washington in 1896. He organized and had
charge of Government exhibits, on behalf of the Department of the
Interior, at the expositions of Cincinnati, Chicago, Atlanta, Nash-
ville, and Omaha. He is a corresponding member of the British
Association, of the Edinburgh Geological Society, and of the New
York Academy of Sciences.

n8

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

(&0XX£$poix timet.

THE MOON AND THE WEATHER.

Editor Popular Science Monthly :

Dear Sir : Scientific investigators in
meteorology have again and again declared
they have not heen able to discover by accu-
rate and long- continued observation that the
moon has any effect whatever upon terrestrial
weather; yet the farmers have, for unreck-
oned years, undoubtingly ascribed certain
kinds of weather — changes, especially — to
the moon ; and, despite the dictum of the
scientists, they have persisted in their confi-
dence in the pale orb as a weather-breeder,
and as a disposer, in a large degree, of the
wet and dry features of the months.

Now comes Mr. H. H. Clayton, meteorolo-
gist at the Blue Hill Meteorological Observa-
tory, and shows by diagram and dates that the
electrical condition of the atmosphere varies
in close accord with the position of the moon
in her orbit.

That electricity performs various offices
in the atmosphere, notably among the parti-
cles of vapor, is well known ; but just how
and to what extent atmospheric phenom-
ena result from electrical action has not yet
been clearly demonstrated. However, we
have now a scientific basis for the assump-
tion that the moon has an influence on the
weather.

An interesting summary of present knowl-
edge concerning the atmosphere is contained
in Studies of the Upper Atmosphere, by
A. Lawrence Rotch, director of the Blue
Hill institution. The diagram of compar-
ative altitudes, which forms the last illus-
tration of my article on kite-flying, in the
May number of this magazine, is from
the frontispiece of Mr. Rotch's pamphlet
just mentioned, for which credit was inad-
vertently omitted.

George J. Varney.
57 Cornhill, Boston, August 19, 1S98.

%aitox r s gaM*.

TEE GOAL IN EDUCATION.

MANY of our readers, we are sure,
must have been impressed by
the articles on The Philosophy of
Manual Training lately contributed
by Professor Henderson to the pages
of this magazine. The thought under-
lying them is one to which we have
ourselves often endeavored to give
expression, namely, that the end
of education is wholly misconceived
unless we consider it as aiming to
bring the individual into right rela-
tions, at as many points as possible,
with the world in which he lives,
and to place him in as full possession
as possible of the varied powers and
capacities of his nature. It is be-
cause he regards manual training
as the most effective instrument
for awakening the intellect in the
first place, and then for establishing

a proper balance between the men-
tal and bodily activities, that Pro-
fessor Henderson has advocated it
with so much earnestness. All that
he has said on the subject seems to
us deserving of the closest attention.
In the old system of education
language was regarded as the su-
preme and sufficient instrument of
mental development ; and in the
great public schools of England this
idea enjoyed the very highest degree
of prestige and authority. By lan-
guage in these establishments, the
two classical languages of Greek and
Latin were meant, the English lan-
guage receiving very scant atten-
tion, and English literature none. If
any one was so far in advance of
the times as to express a doubt
whether a knowledge of Greek and
Latin was the only preparation

EDITOR'S TABLE.

119

needed for life, he was pointed to
the hrilliant men who had come
from the forms and the playgrounds
of Eton and Winchester and Har-
row; and the discussion was consid-
ered closed. The fact is that the radi-
cal insufficiency of the system was
masked to a great extent hy the cir-
cumstance that it was mainly applied
to a ruling class, who early in life
obtained a more practical training
in public affairs. Pitt was educated,
as has been remarked, by that great
statesman, his father, the Earl of
Chatham, and Peel by a great manu-
facturer who took a keen interest in
politics. Robert Walpole, leaving
the university at an early age, had
the society of his father, a most
practical - minded country squire,
whose original ambition had been to
make him the greatest grazier in the
kingdom. Many similar cases could
be cited in which early introduction
to society and to practical life made
up for the deficiencies of scholastic
training, and reflected, or seemed to
reflect, on that training a much great-
er credit than it deserved.

It may be admitted, however, that
as a preparation for a political or
forensic career an old-fashioned clas-
sical education was not wholly with-
out efficacy. It was systematic and
orderly ; it was rigid in its require-
ments; it presented difficulties which
had to be overcome, and afforded the
means for unmasking looseness and
inaccuracy of thought ; finally, it
called into constant activity, though
in a narrow field, the discriminative
and analytical faculties. Its weak-
ness lay in this, that it did not reveal
the nature of things, but promoted a
dangerous habit of " moving about
in worlds not realized," and of giv-
ing to words an importance which
should only be conceded to verified
and comprehended facts.

Nowadays we mix, or try to mix,
a modicum of scientific knowledge

with the education we impart. This
is so far good. It affords a trainiug
in observation and verification, and
opens up to the young sources of
interest of which they may increas-
ingly avail themselves in later years.
Moreover, as the scientific instruc-
tion generally embraces more or less
of physiology and hygiene, it places
them on their guard against the
formation of injurious habits, and
shows them the conditions on which
health depends. These are advan-
tages which, so far as they go, it is
impossible to appreciate too highly.
It takes more, however, than the
admixture of a little physical science
in a school curriculum to make, in a
wide sense, the education that is re-
quired for life. What is further re-
quired is a proper adjustment of the
mind toward life with its varied
activities and its infinite possibili-
ties of good and evil. When we see
men of fine literary gifts growing
more cynical as they advance in
years, and treating the world to
stronger and stronger doses of pes-
simism in their writings, we are com-
pelled to believe that their adjust-
ment to life must have been wrong.
When we see men of science who
year by year appear to have less and
less in common with their fellow-
creatures, and whose studies only
develop on the intellectual side an
ever-increasing passion for the in-
finitely minute and the vastly unim-
portant, and, on the moral, a morbid
sensitiveness to all kinds of personal
questions, we find it difficult to think
that they were properly oriented at
the start. It may not be given to
every one to " see life steadily and
see it whole" ; but it ought to be
possible for a well-trained mind to
see it with an eye of calm, tolerant,
and sympathetic contemplation. No
education is complete wdiich leaves
out such knowledge of the world,
and of the relation which the indi-

120

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

vklual sustains to it, as shall at least
tend to give a right purpose and di-
rection to the individual life. " The
world is very evil," is a pious utter-
ance ; but it is equally pious for each
of us to ask how much of evil is lurk-
ing in ourselves. We conceive of a
scientific education in the full sense
as one which, while it imparts true
ideas in regard to the physical his-
tory of the globe and the chemical
elements that compose it, aims no less
at unfolding the true constitution of
society, the springs of human action,
the strength and weakness of human
character, the possibilities of good
and evil that reside in every indi-
vidual, the misery that waits on
wrongdoing, and the happiness that
flows from just and pure deeds.
There is a way, we are persuaded, of
presenting the world of humanity
to the minds of the young which
would tend to create in most— in the
vast majority — a strong desire to
take a helpful part in the work of
their age and generation, and not to
concentrate all their efforts on the
business of self-advancement. It is
merely a question of seeing the facts
in a broadly human, which is after
all the only true, light-
Let us have in education litera-
ture and analytical studies and sci-
ence with its grand constructions
and sanifying discipline— all the
useful elements — but let the true
goal of education be kept ever in
view, which is, not to enable this in-
dividual or that to shoot to a pi*e-
eminence over his fellows, but to
place the individual in right rela-
tions with his fellows, to give to
each a career of useful activity, and
to prevent that dreary disappoint-
ment with life and all its works
which overtakes so many in their
declining years. Life has its bur-
dens, but it is not vanity ; and the
normal action of human beings on
one another should be to give to

each separate existence a higher
value and deeper sources of happi-
ness.

A DOUBTFUL APPENDIX TO SCIENCE.

It was perhaps to be expected
that Sir William Crookes, as presi-
dent of the British Association, would,
whatever else he touched upon in his
presidential address, say something
in regard to the special views which
have now for many years been asso-
ciated with his name. In point of
fact he did do so. Beginning with
a survey of the world's resources in
the matter of wheat production, and
an inquiry as to how the fertility of
the soil may in future be kept up, he
passed to the constitution of matter
and molecular action as illustrated
by the phenomena of Rontgen rays,
and finally referred to "experiments
tending to show that, outside our
scientific knowledge, there exists a
force exercised by intelligence dif-
fering from the ordinary intelli-
gence common to mortals." These
experiments were made, we are told,
more than thirty years ago. It does
not appear that any substantial or
indubitable addition has been made
to the evidence which these experi-
ments afforded, or were supposed
to afford ; but Professor Crookes
"thinks" he can "see a little further
now." "I have glimpses," he says,
"of something like coherence among
the strange, elusive phenomena."
That undoubtedly is a good thing to
get glimpses of; but Uaere is perhaps
room for question whether the ex-
treme interest of the professor in the
" strange elusive phenomena " has
not led him to make a little more
of the " glimpses " than strict scien-
tific method would warrant.

It is really only necessary to read
the concluding portion of Professor
Crookes's address to see that he is
dealing not with science but with
crude imaginations. He says that

EDITOR'S TABLE.

121

"confirmation of telepathic phenom-
ena is afforded by many converging
experiments," but especially by " the
subconscious workings of the mind
when these are brought into con-
scious survey." There is really no
meaning in this. How can any
''survey" be other than conscious?
And what is there in the subcon-
scious workings of the mind adapted
to prove that impressions can be
made upon the mind otherwise than
through the recognized channels of
sense? "The patient experimenta-
tion of the Society for Psychical Re-
search is probing subliminal pro-
cesses and learning lessons of alter-
nating personalities and abnormal
states." There is no objection in the
world to all that ; but it would take
more than an alternating person-
ality or an abnormal state to enable
a mind to gather knowledge from
another mind without the inter-
mediation of intelligible signs. A
sick man may act in a very singular
way, but his sickness does not enable
him to transcend the ordinary pow-
ers of humanity.

The eminent professor speaks of
the cures wrought by suggestion
(hypnotism) ; but seeing that the
suggestions are made by intelligible
signs, verbal or other, we find no
support here for the telepathic hy-
pothesis. We really gather from the
professor's remarks that while a
great many persons — some of high
intelligence and of recognized posi-
tion in the scientific or philosophical
world — have been pottering away at-
this matter of telepathy and other
phases of spiritualism for a great
many years, things are to all intents
and purposes just as they were be-
fore all these laborious researches
began. This is not just the way the
professor puts it ; his words are :
" A formidable range of phenomena
must be scientifically sifted before
we effectually grasp a faculty so

strange, so bewildering, and for ages
so inscrutable as the direct action of
mind on mind." Sometimes the rea-
son why a thing is inscrutable is
because it isn't so ; and that, we sus-
pect, is the explanation in the pres-
ent case. One hypothesis which the
professor puts forward is simple to the
last degree. It is that the molecular
action of the brain, when thoughts
are passing through it. is taken up
by the ether and communicated to
another brain in which it awakens
similar thoughts. But the question
we ask at once is why this wireless
telegraphy between brain and brain
is not going on all the time, and why
we are all not driven crazy by the
everlasting intrusion of other peo-
ple's thoughts ? If this is the pro-
cess, why should neighboring brains
be skipped, and the effect be pro-
duced upon one particular brain
hundreds, perhaps thousands, of
miles away ?

" It is henceforth open to science,"
says Sir William Crookes, u to tran-
scend all we now think we know of
matter, and to gain glimpses of a
profounder scheme of cosmic law."
We really do not know when it was
not open to science to do this if it
could; and we do not see that the
telepathists and other denominations
of spiritualists have in any apprecia-
ble manner improved the situation
as regards the probability of the
thing being done. They have con-
tributed floods of talk and tons upon
tons of printed matter, and have
worked thousands of people into vari-
ously grewsome conditions of mind ;
but if any one can point to a single
distinct advance in scientific theory
due to their peculiar methods, we
can only say that we do not know
what it is. Professor Crookes has
been one of the foremost scientific
workers of his day ; and we find it
hard to believe that he can be under
any illusion as to the futility of the

122

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

efforts of the spiritualist school. At
the same time he is entitled to the
utmost freedom of thought and ut-
terance ; and if he believes there is
still hope of important gains to hu-
manity from the side of spiritualism,
he is justified in holding his posi-
tion ; and while we may think he
is sadly misled, we must accord him
the respect due to eminent talents
and unquestioned sincerity.

THE CAUSE OF SPAIN'S DECADENCE.

Until account is taken of the ef-
fect of war on the thoughts, feelings,
and institutions of men, no headway
can be made toward a rational ex-
planation of the decadence of Spain.
Since the outbreak of hostilities with
that country, which has made the
topic a favorite one with newspaper
and magazine writers, every other
explanation has been vouchsafed ;
but all of them, including the favor-
ite one about the mental and indus-
trial paralysis produced by the Span-
ish Inquisition, mistake effects for
causes. Not one of them, so far as
we have seen, has touched the root
of the matter and pointed out that
Spain has simply gone the way of
every other nation that has devoted
itself, not to the pursuits of peace,
but to the destruction of life and
property.

Like all other despotisms, Span-
ish despotism has been the inevita-
ble product of the necessities of war.
Success in that pursuit requires that
the subjects of a monarch shall place
unreservedly their lives and prop-
erty at his disposal. He must be
permitted to levy conscriptions with-
out let or hindrance, and to impose
taxes with the same freedom. The
longer and more intense the mili-
tant activities, the more unmitigated
the despotism. In Spain the condi-
tions for the uninterrupted growth
of such irresponsible power have

been especially favorable. There
were first the long wars with the
Moors, then the Italian wars, the
wars of the Reformation, the wars
of the Spanish Succession, the Na-
poleonic wars, followed by a period
of chronic revolution, and the wars
carried on against the natives and
other adversaries in the New World.
The impulse toward a concentration
of power in the hands of one man
engendered by these incessant con-
flicts could not fail to blot out of ex-
istence every sentiment and institu-
tion of freedom. Only during the
past twenty five years of peace has
either been able to gain a foothold
and to give a promise of regener-
ation.

But the despotism growing out of
war means more than the bare state-
ment that all power over life and
property has been placed in the
hands of a monarch. It means that
his subjects have been deprived of
the right to think and act for them-
selves. He has taken charge of both
their consciences and their conduct.
In Spain, for some reason not easy
to discover, the ecclesiastical despo-
tism that accompanies the growth
of political despotism became more
potent and deadly than in the other
countries of Europe. There the
priests were more powerful some-
times than the monarch himself.
With the institution of the Inquisi-
tion during the reign of Fei'dinand
and Isabella they wrought a havoc
to the Spanish intellect that has no
parallel outside of the great Oriental
despotisms. To them is due the men-
tal torpor of the Spaniards, who, ac-
cording to U. J. Burke, wrapped
themselves in a cloak and " sought
safety in dignified silence." How
could the spectacle of an auto-da-fe
do otherwise than disincline a pru-
dent man to think for himself and
to tell what he thought ?

That devotion to military pur-

EDITOR'S TABLE.

123

suits inspires a contempt for indus-
trial pursuits and gives birth to a
feeling of superiority over the people
engaged in them we see to-day in
France and Germany. In those
countries it has come to such a pass
that civilians are regarded as almost
without rights, since an officer im-
agining himself insulted may run
them through with his sword, and
as having no other function in
the economy of the world but to
work for their masters. In Spain
during the years of her greatest mili-
tary activity these feelings of a bar-
barian reached an intensity that can
not now be realized. The only oc-
cupation outside of killing and plun-
dering enemies either in Europe or
America that a gentleman could fol-
low was a career as a churchman or
as an official in the home or colonial
administration. " Public offices,"
says Henry C. Lea, describing the
results of this absurd belief, " were
multiplied recklessly, and the steady
increase in the ranks of the clergy,
regular and secular, was a constant
subject of remonstrance. In 1626
Navarette tells us that there were
thirty-two universities and more than
four thousand grammar schools
crowded with sons of artisans and
peasants striving to fit themselves
for public office or holy orders.
Most of them failed in this through
inaptitude, and drifted into the
swarms of tramps and beggars who
were a standing curse to the com-
munity." Hence the abnormal pro-
portions of the ecclesiastical and bu-
reaucratic establishments ; hence also
the almost total failure to develop
the great natural resources of the
country; hence, finally, the unpros-
perous condition of the industries
not crushed out of existence by the
regulations of the official parasites.

To many people the callousness
of Spaniards to suffering and their
disregard of the rights of others have

seemed the greatest mystery. "Why
is it that they still cling so tenacious-
ly to the pleasures of the bull ring ?
Why was it that they appeared so
indifferent to the miseries of the
Cuban reconcentrados ? In the light
of the influence of war on the sym-
pathies these questions present no
difficulty. Clear also does it become
why the Spaniards possess as little
patriotism as the Chinese. Training
for centuries in the belief that the
most honorable occupation is the
killing and plundering of enemies
or the filling of positions in church
and state that obviate the necessity
of earning a livelihood by honest
toil is not fitted to inspire a keen
sense of justice or a lively fellow-
feeling. When people have been
plundered for centuries by a greedy
bureaucratic despotism they can not
persuade themselves that it is their
duty to protect their oppressors from
foreign or domestic assailants. What
they are most interested in is an op-
portunity to get a living. Whether
the honor of their country is at stake,
or whether there is threatened the
loss of the last remnant of a colonial
empire that has cost them blood and
treasure beyond estimate, they are
certain to be as indifferent as the
victims of a slave driver to the
misfortunes that have overtaken
him.

Some friends of Spain have been
inclined to regard the loss of these
colonies as the culmination of her
misfortunes. We can not but regard
it as the beginning of better days.
Although Spain has not been en-
gaged in war on an extensive scale
for a long time, her efforts to retain
the control of a people anxious to be
delivered from her incapacity and
despotism have tended to keep alive
the barbarous feelings and traditions
of the past. The Cubans and Porto
Eicans were not governed for their
own benefit like the colonists of

124

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Great Britain, but for the benefit of
rapacious politicians and traders and
manufacturers in Spain. In the co-
lonial administration the former
sought easy employment and speedy
fortune. In the colonial commercial
regulations the latter found an arti-
ficial support for trade and manu-
factures that could not have survived
without them. By discriminations,
Spanish millers, for instance, were
able to import wheat, turn it into
flour, and sell it to the colonists at a
price scandalously in excess of that
charged for the American product.
Sometimes the trouble to grind the
wheat was not taken. After it had
been imported into Spain it was
shipped to the colonies, and upon
them was thrown the expense of
needless transportation and the prof-
its of superfluous middlemen.

With the complete extinction of
the colonial empire of Spain will
come to an end these opportunities
for the pillage of industrious peoples.
The parasites, commercial and bu-
reaucratic, that have depended upon
them for a livelihood will be obliged
to turn their attention to more le-
gitimate employment. There will
be brought to an end also the im-
mense sacrifice of life and treasure
required to suppress the ever-recur-
ring insurrections. Both will be left
in Spain to develop her resources
and to add to her wealth and pros-
perity ; but, best of all, will cease the
encouragement to the militant and
bureaucratic spirit that the posses-
sion of the colonies fostered. The
sentiments as well as the employ-
ments appropriate to peace will re-
ceive an impulse that ought to en-
able Spain to fill an honorable if not
a glorious place in the future history
of Europe. But this bright outlook
is based upon the assumption that
she will not join in the mad compe-
tition of her neighbors in armaments
and thus fall a prey with them to the

economic and moral ravages of " an
armed peace."

BREAM AND REALITY.

An ingenious article by M. Ca-
mille Melinand, which appeared a
few months ago in the Revue des
Deux Mondes under the title of Le
Reve et la Realite (Dream and Real-
ity), is reproduced, in its more im-
portant points, in translation, in the
present number of the Monthly, and
will repay perusal for the novel views
it presents. The object of the writer
is to show that there is not so much
difference as is commonly supposed
between the waking and sleeping
states, that our dreams are not so
illusory nor our waking experiences
so absolutely real as we are in the
habit of assuming, and that, as we
wake from dreams, so we may ex-
pect to wake from what we call life
into a condition of existence that will
give us a new standpoint, and reduce
all the experiences which we now
take so seriously and tragically to
the level of a dream. The only
substantial differences he recognizes
between our waking state and the
dream state are (1) that in our wak-
ing moments we know that there
is another condition which we call
dreaming, while in our dreams we
do not recognize a separate waking
state; and (2) that, while we wake
from our dreams, we do not wake
from what we call reality.

M. Melinand writes in a candid
spirit, and yet we think his article is
calculated to encourage a somewhat
unhealthy type of mysticism. We
do not see how it is possible to take
too serious a view of the life we live
in the present. Whether we view it
tragically or not must depend in
large measure upon our individual
experiences ; and happy are they into
whose lives tragedy does not enter.
The very fact that M. Melinand
would dissuade us from taking life

EDITOR'S TABLE.

125

tragically shows that he recognizes
that life — our waking life — can be
brought under the rule of right rea-
son. He does not advise us not to
take our dreams tragically, for he
knows tbat the dream state is one
not susceptible of rational regulation,
and this, we think, might very prop-
erly be accounted a third very im-
portant difference between dream
and reality. The true advice to give
to those whose happiness we have at
heart is, not to look upon life as a
kind of dream, but to take it serious
ly, to study its laws, and to accept
the burdens and duties it imposes.
It may be remarked that dreams give
very little trouble, as a rule, to those
whose waking hours are well spent,
and whose minds and bodies are kept
in a condition of healthful balance.
We can indeed in the waking state
take measures to reduce our dreams
to a minimum, and to provide that
at least they shall not be of a dis-
tressing character. Such being the
case, it seems idle, to say the least,
to speculate, as many besides M. Me-
linaiid have done, on the possible
reality of dreams. What Bottom
said of his dream, " Man is but an
ass if he go about to expound this
dream," might be applied without
much risk of error to dreams gener-
ally; unless the exposition takes the
direction of endeavoring to explain
what antecedent mental or physical
condition, or what circumstances act-
ing upon the sleeper, may have given
rise to the dream in a given case.

M. Melinand makes a remark
which the experience of many will
confirm, that dreams sometimes
throw a light of extraordinary in-
tensity on characters and situations,
giving us, perhaps, truer views of
certain things than we had ever at-
tained in our waking hours. This,
however, would only imply the with-
drawal at such moments of influ-
ences or conditions which, in our

waking life, may have the effect of
rendering insight less keen and un-
compromising. If, for example, we
could in our dreams revert to the
standpoint of childhood, we should
see many things with a directness
which is more or less lacking to our
mature cogitations, and pronounce
judgments in a correspondingly
down-right manner, with perhaps
a closer approximation to absolute
truth. This, however, would mani-
festly not imply any extension of
our mental range, nor afford any
guarantee of the "reality" of the
dream life. The intuitions of the
novelist or dramatist, when they are
true and profound, give a wonderful
air of reality to the scenes which the
author portrays, but do not make
them real. There are various wak-
ing states in which our perceptions
are more than normally acute ; and,
as we know, the loss of one physical
organ leads frequently to an increase
of power in others; but these facts
throw little light on the main prob-
lem of life, which is how to develop
and use our normal powers to the
best purpose and with the best re-
sults. At the same time it is well not
to despise any knowledge that may
come to us from dreams in the way
of self -revelation or otherwise, but to
use it for the strengthening of what
is weak and the rectifying of what
is wrong. In that way dreams may
be made subsidiary to the better gov-
ernment of our higher waking life.

As to the conclusion the writer
draws, that, as we wake from dreams,
so we may some day wake from
this life, which is so like a dream,
we leave it to the judgment of our
readers, merely remarking that it
would be very unfortunate if the
thought of such an awakening should
lead any one to think little of this
life, or abate any effort which he can
make to render it, if a dream, a hap-
py dream to himself and others.

iz6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

^ctjetxiiftc %ittxvi\vtxz.

SPECIAL BOOKS.

The period since the Congress of Vienna has "been immensely fruitful of
great and far-reaching events — of events that have essentially modified the
fortunes of the world, its theories of government, and the condition of its
peoples ; and of that period the nearly fifty years covered by the second
volume of Professor Andrews's history * have been most eventful and
marked by momentous changes. At the opening of this history the conti-
nental sovereigns had established despotism throughout their domains on
what they thought were firm foundations, and surrounded it with guards
which they considered unassailable. The close of it finds the conditions
reversed ; government in the interests of the people recognized, and yielded
to, even if grudgingly, by those backward monarchs who would prefer to
contend against it. The first volume of Professor Andrews's history brings
the story down to the close of the revolutionary movements of 1848, when
the princes, again set upon their thrones, were studying and plotting as to
how they might resume their old authority. In France, Louis Napoleon
had become a central figure, and the tendencies were taking shape under
which the republic was destroyed and imperialism established. Taking up
the record again at this point, Mr. Andrews tells us he has treated only those
phases of the history that concern the development of Europe in the larger
sense, rather than that of each particular state or country. On the ground
that no event can be understood in isolation, and that history is something
more than a series of events chronologically considered, he has endeavored
to give logical form to the treatment of the subject, to carry each movement
forward to its conclusion before turning to the others ; and has introduced
nothing that did not seem to him to be absolutely essential to an under-
standing of the subject. He has not deemed it necessary to describe battles
and military movements at length, and has omitted, with a few exceptions,
biographical discussions. He has been successful in adhering to his plan,
and, writing always dispassionately, yet without sacrificing interest, and with
his mind fixed on the main object, has given a clear and complete view of
what each event recorded signified and of what Europe has accomplished
in the past half century. The first chapter concerns France, the failure of
the second republic, and the rise of Napoleon III to imperial power. This
was extremely unwelcome to the other sovereigns, who were disposed to
resent the entrance of an intruder into their ranks, and led to diplomatic
skirmishing, ending in the Crimean War — a war that "did not create the
forces that led to the national unity of Italy and Germany, . . . but gave
to Cavour and Bismarck the opportunity that each was seeking." It re-
quires but a few uncolored words at the beginning of the story of the
achievement of the unity of Italy— the mightiest event of the whole series
—to picture Victor Emanuel the hero that he was. With similar success
are presented the masterly statesmanship of DAzeglio and Cavour and the
high-souled patriotism of the people of Italy. This achievement, a victory

* The Historical Development of Modern Europe from the Congress of Vienna to the Present Time.
By Charles M. Andrews. Vol. II, 1850-189r. New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 407. Price,
$2.50.

SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 127

over opposing Europe, compelled the recognition of an international prin-
ciple based on the affinities of peoples, and inaugurated, " not only a new
regime for Italy, but also a new public law for Europe." The empire of
Napoleon, which rose to its culmination while these things were going on,
was " nothing but an adventure out of accord with modern highly developed
civilization," exhausted France and checked the education of the people in
matters of government and habits of self-reliance. The rise of Prussia and
the establishment, under Bismarck, of the unity of Germany, are regarded
as an instance of the accomplishment of a noble end by the use of force.
The struggle culminated in the war of 1870, the ultimate consequence of
which was that "scarcely a vestige remained of those conditions of the
Congress of Vienna which for so many years had been the anxious care of
the European concert." The arrangement between Austria and Hungary,
creating a dual monarchy, " established a government which was the re-
sult, not merely of political ingenuity, but of experience, and one that on
the whole was successful " ; and Austria has taken its place among the
enlightened governments of Europe. The " Eastern question " is presented
as one in which the attitude of the powers is no longer determined in Eu-
rope, but in China, India, and Africa, the settlement of which seems to be
indefinitely postponed. The concluding chapters relate to present condi-
tions.

Mr. Seward excuses himself in rather an apologetic way for undertak-
ing to write a book on Fossil Plants* for the Cambridge Natural Science
Manuals — a task which Professor Williamson, a founder of modern paleo-
botany, had considered too serious; but students of botany and geology
have cause to thank him for having consented to attempt the writing of a
book intended to render more accessible some of the important facts of the
science, and to suggest lines of investigation in it. The botanist and geol-
ogist, not being always acquainted with each other's subjects in a sufficient
degree to appreciate the significance of paleobotany in its several points
of contact with geology and recent botany, the subject does not readily
lend itself to adequate treatment in a work intended for students of both
classes, and the author has accordingly tried to shape his treatment with
this point in view, and so as to adapt it to both non -geological and non-
botanical students. As a possible aid to those undertaking research in this
field he has given more references than usually seem appropt^iate in an in-
troductory treatise — often to specimens of coal-measure plants in the Wil-
liamson cabinet of microscopic sections, now in the British Museum — and
has dealt with certain questions in greater detail than an elementary treat-
ment of the subject requires. His plan has been to treat certain selected
types with some detail, and to refer briefly to such others as should be
studied by any one desiring to pursue the subject more thoroughly, rather
than to cover a wide range or to attempt to make the list of types complete.
The book opens with a sketch of the history of paleobotany, which is fol-
lowed by a discussion of the relation of paleobotany to botany and geol-
ogy. A succinct review of geological history is then given, in which the
several principal formations are briefly described. The theory of the pro-

* Fossil Plants. For Students of Botany and Geology. By A. C. Seward. With Illustrations.
Cambridge, England : The University Press. New York : The Macmillan Company. Pp. 452.

Pries, $3.

128

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

cess of the preservation of plants as fossils is explained, the difficulties and
sources of error in the determination of fossil plants are pointed out, and
the rules for nomenclature and of priority in it are explained. The sys-
tematic part follows these introductory chapters, giving as full descriptions
as the condition of the fossils admit, with illustrations — one hundred and
eleven in all— of those belonging to the orders Thallophyta, Bryophyta,
and Pterodojjhyta, carrying the subject as far as the Sphenophyllales.
Technical as the subject necessarily is, the treatment is clear and, where the
matter admits, fluent, so that no student need complain of difficulties in
that liue.

GENERAL NOTICES.

Dr. W. Detmer^s Practical Plant Physi-
ology * is a book of experiments for the use
of teachers as well as of students in higher-
grade schools, and supplies an aid to the
study of the whole of that branch of the
science by experimental processes. While
the arrangement of the material in the sec-
ond German edition is essentially the same
as in the first, nearly every section has been
enlarged or remodeled, and the book is es-
sentially a new one ; new experiments have
been included for lecture demonstration or
private work, and pains have been taken to
render the book increasingly useful to seri-
ous students of plant physiology, especially
to those who desire to familiarize themselves
with methods of research. Great care has
been taken in the selection of research ma-
terial recommended for the experiments ;
and material suitable for winter work has
received attention as well as summer mate-
rial. This second German edition is presented
by the publishers in the translation in its en-
tirety, without addition or alteration. The
two great divisions of the book are into the
Physiology of Nutrition and the Physiology of
Growth and Movements resulting from Irri-
tability. In the first division the experi-
ments bear upon the food of plants (assimi-
lation, production of proteids, constituents
of the ash, and organic compounds as food
for plants) ; the molecular forces and pro-
cesses (including movements of gases, ab-
sorption and movements of water, and ab-

* Practical Plant Physiology. An Introduc-
tion to Original Research for Students and Teach-
ers of Natural Science, Medicine, Agriculture, and
Forestry. By Dr. W. Detmer. Translated from
the second German edition by S. A. Moor. Lon-
don: Swan, Sonnenschein & Co. New York: The
Macmillan Company. Pp. 555. Price, $3.

sorption of mineral substances in plants) ; and
metabolic processes in the plant. In the
second division the characteristics of grow-
ing plant structures, the conditions neces-
sary for growth, the influence of internal
causes and external conditions ; geotropic,
heliotropic, and hydrotropic mutations, and
other phenomena of irritability ; the wind-
ing of tendrils and twining plants ; dorsi-
centrality, polarity, and anisotropy and phe-
nomena of correlation ; and movements of
variation, are presented.

The primary objects of Mr. HoffmarCs
The Sphere of Science* are to point out
what constitutes a science, and set forth the
ground upon which every science rests and
the principles and rules that must be fol-
lowed in order to construct one. The author
maintains throughout that every department
of knowledge is capable of scientific treat-
ment, and must be so treated before any
great advance can be made toward a con-
sistent and rational conception of the uni-
verse. The subjects are considered in suc-
cession of the true conception and aims of
science, what it takes for granted, the
scientific method, certainty and probability
in science, the use of the imagination, anal-
ogy as an aid, the limitations of science, re-
cent advances in the physical sciences, the
old and new psychology, modern scientific
ethics, philosophy as the science of the sci-
ences, and the harmony of the sciences.
The author holds that the chief need in all
departments of thought is not so much mere
facts as a new arrangement and classifica-
tion of facts already at hand ; that we can

* The Sphere of Science. By Frank Sargent
Hoffman, Ph. D. New York: G. P. Putnam's
Sons. Pp. 268. Price, $1.50.

SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE.

129

be certain of no doctrine, but the most we
can do to establish it is to show that the
balance of probabilities is in favor of it;
that philosophy is the life of science and
science the vital breath of philosophy, and
if one is severed from the other both pine
away and die ; and that those scientific re-
searches are successful which are not exclu-
sively special, but are illuminated by an
ample idea of science. The book is the
outcome of a series of lectures given to
classes in Union College to supplement their
work in formal logic.

The Text-Book of Geodetic Astronomy*
was prepared by Mr. John F. Hayford to
meet the conditions of the course at Cornell
University, the terms of which the standard
works now in use could not be made to fit. The
purpose of the book is to furnish a text short
and easy enough to be mastered by the stu-
dent of civil engineering in a single college
term which shall give him a sufficiently ex-
act and extensive knowledge of geodetic
astronomy to serve as a basis for practice in
that line after graduation. While it is pri-
marily a manual for students, the author has
endeavored to insert such matter, tables, and
convenient formulas as would make it of
value also to the engineer making astronom-
ical observations. Mathematical processes
have been omitted, except those that are
actually necessary for developing the work-
ing formulas, and simple and special means
for deriving the formulas have been chosen
in every case admitting choice. Consider-
able attention has been devoted to a discus-
sion of the various sources of error in each
kind of observations. Those formulas have
been selected, so far as possible, that lead to
accurate and rapid computation.

FAnnee Fsychologique\ of M. Alfred
Binct and his colaborers in the Laboratory of
Physiological Psychology of the Sorbonne,
Paris, is now in its fourth year, and the four

* A Text-Book of Geodetic Astronomy. By
John F. Hayford. New York: John Wiley &
Sons. Pp. 851, with plates.

t L'Annee P.sychologique. Edited by Alfred
Binet— with the Collaboration of H. Beaunis, Th.
Pubot and Bourdon, Courtier, Farrand, Flournoy,
Philippe, Vaschide, and Warren. Editorial sec-
retary, Victor Henri. Fourth year. Paris: Li-
brairie C. Reinwald. Schleicher Brothers, pub-
lishers. Pp 849. Price, 15 francs.

VOL. LIV. 10

volumes present a compendium of the psy-
chological studies and literature of the pe-
riod they cover, the value of which will be
appreciated by any one who has occasion to
examine the work. The first volume was a
book of 619 pages, with 33 figures ; the sec-
ond, of 1010 pages, 141 figures, and several
plates; the third, of 825 pages, 103 figures,
and numerous plates ; and the present vol-
ume has 849 pages and 117 figures. The
plan of all the volumes is the same ; it is to
present in full the labors of the laboratory,
with original memoirs, and to give a con-
densed but adequate and classified summary
of the world's literature of the year relating
to the subject. The present volume con-
tains twenty-seven original memoirs, mostly
by Professor Binet and M. N. Vaschide,
with others by M. B. Bourdon and Mr. A.
Le Gere ; about ninety reviews of books
and papers, classified under sixteen heads,
according as they relate to the physiology of
the nervous system, the several senses, men-
tal faculties and operations, movements, in-
dividual psychology and character, sleep,
dreams, and pathological cases, and animal
psychology; a bibliography, also classified,
of 123 pages; and an index of authors, oc-
cupying 17 double-columned pages.

Prof. Cyrus Thomas has given, in his
Introduction to the Study of North American
Archaeology* a brief summary of the prog-
ress in the investigation and study of the
subject which has been made up to the pres-
ent time. The increased activity among
students, the numerous explorations made,
the accumulation of data and the flood of
light thrown on questions relating to pre-
historic North America since the publication
of the last general work on it seemed to call
for such a summary. While the author's
chief object is to present and arrange the
-data so as to afford the student some means
of bringing into harmony and utilizing the
facts and materials at hand, yet, in view of the
impossibility of presenting a full account of
the arcluEological remains of the continent,
and discussing all the questions connected
with them in a single small volume, only thos-e
considered the best representatives of the

* Introduction to the Study of North Amer-
ican Archaeology. By Prof. Cyrus Thomas. Cin-
cinnati: The Kobert Clarke Company. Pp. 391.

13°

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

leading types and those which best illustrate
the arts, customs, and culture status of the
former inhabitants are referred to. The
movements and remains are treated under
the three heads of the Arctic, Atlantic, and
Pacific divisions ; the first including the
works of the Eskimos, the second those of the
mound builders, and the third the curious
variety of works scattered along the Pacific
coast, and in Mexico and Central America,
rising to great elaboration in the latter coun-
tries. Theories have to be considered, though
they are all still uncertain, and Professor
Thomas notices the various views which have
been expressed as to the origin of the works
and the people who executed them. He
himself believes that they are all the work
of the peoples who lived here when America
was discovered, and are represented by the
present Indians ; that they are not of a very
extreme antiquity ; and that the continent
was peopled by tribes who came down from
the northwest through the region between
Hudson Bay and the Rocky Mountains.

Of Nature books encouraging the study
of the life around us we have an abundance
— of some sorts, perhaps, a superfluity — and
they have their uses, one of the chief of
which is drawing people, who might other-
wise never think of it, to the observation of
natural facts, and to inquiry into their char,
acter and causes. Such books are fittingly
complemented by the Handbook of Nature
Study* of D. Lange, of St. Paul, Minnesota,
which teaches how system may be intro-
duced into this occupation. In it, the author
has undertaken to point out some of the ma-
terial which may be made the basis of profit-
able lessons in Nature study, and to show
how this material may be made available,
and what the pupils may be taught about
it. The author has arranged the matter of
the subject of his teachings according to
seasons and life communities. He begins at
home in the spring, and directs the wander-
ings of the pupils to the waters, fields, and
prairies, the roadsides and neglected cor-
ners, studying besides the plants and animals,
the geological action of water, the flowers of

* Handbook of Nature Study for Teachers and
Pupils in Elementary Schools. By D. Lange.
New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp.329.
Price, $1.

the fields and the needs of neglected places,
window flowers, and domestic animals. Then
he goes to the woods — in spring, in summer,
and in autumn — and their plant and animal
life, the effect of all these upon the earth,
and their relations to one another. Some
practical precepts are given to teachers con-
cerning the method of conducting the study
of Nature.

In the presentation of his conception of
The State* or the Elements of Politics, Prof.
Woodrow Wilson has taken a comprehensive
view. Designing a book for study and in-
struction, he has sought to set forth the evo-
lution of existing systems of government
from the beginning. Possessing no model,
no text-book of like scope and purpose hav-
ing apparently hitherto been attempted, he
has had to make his own type ; and, in the
absence of anything else to refer the student
to, has been obliged to include much that
might otherwise have been omitted. The
volume is consequently large ; but this dis-
advantage, if it be one, is compensated for
by the fact that the student has the whole
subject before him. For his descriptions the
author has chosen governments which are
types of their several kinds. An indispen-
sable prerequisite to studies of things of this
sort is a knowledge of the constitutions of
the states of classical antiquity ; hence the in-
stitutions of Greece and Rome are studied :
Greece, which furnished the spirit and in-
spiration under which the world has ad-
vanced; and Rome, which laid the foundations
of modern jurisprudence. Before these, even,
a glance at The Earliest Forms of Govern-
ment, their Origin and Evolution, was re-
quired. Then, coming to modern systems,
which are also traced in their historical devel-
opment, "the government of France serves
excellently as an example of a unitary govern-
ment of one kind, and Great Britain equally
well as an example of a unitary government
of another kind ; Germany exhibits a federal
empire, Switzerland a federal republic of
one sort, the United States a federal repub-
lic of another ; Austria-Hungary and Sweden-
Norway show the only two existing European

* The State : Elements of Historical and Pnic-
tical Politics. By Woodrow Wilson. Revised
edition. Boston : D. C. Heath & Co. Pp. Cf.6.
Price, $2.

SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE.

Ui

types of dual monarchies." Russia might
have been presented as having a place apart
in European politics, but the book was full.
The work has been prepared in the belief
that " our own institutions can be understood
and appreciated only by those who know
other systems of government as well and the
main facts of general institutional history."
The accounts of the particular systems of
government are followed by short chapters
on the Nature and Forms of Government;
Law, its Nature and Development; the
functions and the objects of government;
and summaries, in which the conclusion is
expressed that law grows with the growth
of the community, can not leap too far ahead
of it, and must not lag behind it ; and that
" the method of political development is con-
servative adaptation, shaping old habits into
new ones, modifying old means to accomplish
new ends."

Mr. H. E. Parhhurst has made in his How
to Name the Birds* a book on a different
plan from the other books about birds that are
now appearing so abundantly — not to rival
them, but to serve as an introduction to their
more genera! use. It is intended to aid the
field ornithologist in determining an unknown
species, by calling his attention to their more
obvious features and those more distinguish-
able from a distance than those which ob-
servers using the ordinary bird books have
to depend on as a means of recognition.
Color is chiefly relied upon, and, as a further
means of finding the birds, they are grouped
by the seasons, when they may be seen in a
given locality — the summer, winter, migrant,
and permanent birds, and birds of prey.
The first four groups are subgrouped accord-
ing to color, and the larger color groups are
further subdivided. Other devices and signs
are contrived, so that a complete description
of the bird, as it will appear to the amateur
watching it from a little way off, is given in
three or four lines. To this a brief comment
is added regarding the nesting and habits of
the bird. These descriptions are preceded by

* How to Name the Birds. A Pocket Guide
to the Land Birds and to the Principal Water
Fowl normally found in the New England States,
New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, for
the Use of Field Ornithologists. By II. E. Park-
hurst. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp.
115. Price, $1.

an analytical key similar to the botanical keys;
and the study is aided by giving three pages
of diagrams illustrating the distinctive areas of
the bird's body, to which reference is made
in describing the colors, stripes, and spots.
The list comprises only those birds that are
normally found within the territory described
in the title as regular summer or winter
visitants, as migrants, or as permanent
species.

A very important contribution to the
economy of city administration is the quar-
terly Supplement to Municipal Affairs, June,
1898, in which the late superintendent of
street cleaning in the city of New York,
George E. Waring, Jr., presents his observa-
tions on street-cleaning methods in European
cities, and general reports of his own work
in that line. The observations in Europe,
made in the summer of 1896, in a special
study of the subject, for the information and
improvement of Mr. Waring's own depart-
ment, include accounts of the conditions as
to cleanliness and the methods of doing the
work in Vienna, Budapest, Munich, Berlin,
Cologne, Brussels, London, Birmingham,
Paris, Turin, and Genoa. Mr. Waring finds
that the regulations under which the streets
are really kept clean in those cities are no
better than ours ; " but there is the immense
difference that in Europe laws and ordinances
mean something and are executed, while here
they are treated as mere matters of form."
The reports of Mr. Waring's own work in
New York embrace a review of the general
operations of the department, the report of
the snow inspector, and an account of the
highly successful plan for the adjustment of
labor questions instituted by Mr. Waring.

Mr. Lauros O. McConaehie, in the study
and development of legislative methods
which he publishes under the title of Con-
gressional Committees (T. Y. Crowell & Co.,
New York, $1.75), assumes that a complete
breakdown of parliamentary machinery took
place on the floors of Congress under the
sudden and vast augmentation of legislative
burdens which our senators and representa-
tives had to confront after the civil war.
Two schools of reformers came to the front,
one of which held up the British parliamen-
tary system as a model and directed attention
abroad in the search for light ; while the

132

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

other stood up for the defense of American
legislative methods as developments of
American political conditions. The author
has sought a mean between these schools,
and has tried to glean from contemporary
debates, memoirs, newspapers, and other
records the reasons assigned for each innova-
tion as it has entered and enlarged the codes,
and has taken the testimony of contempora-
ry legislators upon the conditions prevailing
in successive stages in the history of the
national House and Senate. Among the les-
sons presented by the book are those of the
tremendous power wielded by the speaker of
the House of Representatives and of "other
anomalies in a supposed elective folk con-
gress."

Whittdker's Mechanical Engineer's Pock-
et Book, prepared by Philip R. Bjorling, if it
does not contain everything, contains a great
many facts and formulas concerning matters
on which the mechanician is often called
upon to seek immediate information, a con-
siderable proportion of which are not easily
subject to systematic classification. Among
the one hundred and thirty formulas and pro-
cesses are those relating to the flow and force
of water and wind, the pressure of gases and
the air, the weight, proportions, and strength
of parts of machinery ; stresses, rate of de-
livery of elevators, etc., gauges, tables of
areas and circumferences, squares, cubes,
fourth and fifth powers and roots, and items
which can be indicated only by viewing them
in detail. It is a valuable and indispensable
companion for the mechanical engineer.
The Macmillan Company. Price, $1.75.

M. J. Costanfin conceives that science
consists in something more than the mere
accumulation, description, and classification
of facts, with which too many persons con-
found it, and that the important thing is
what the facts teach, and, as related to it or
as what may help to find it out, the theories
that may be deduced from them. He ap-
plies this principle to the evolution of plant
life in his book Lcs Vegetaux et les Milieux
Cosmiqnes (Plants and Cosmic Media) — adap-
tative evolution, which is essentially a study
of the operation of the various material fac-
tors of the environment on growth and de-
velopment. " Guided by Goethe's ideas, he
invites us to witness the incessant variations

of organized existence everywhere visible in
Nature," under the influence of cold and
heat, light, gravity, and the aquatic medium,
hoping in these studies to find new and de-
cisive arguments in favor of transformist
conceptions. He aims to show how the new
characteristics produced by changes in the
influence of these factors to which plants are
subjected may be fixed and gradually become
hereditary. (Published by Felix Alcan,
Paris, in the Bibliotheque Scientifique Inter-
nationale.)

Mr. A. G. EllioWs little work on Indus-
trial Electricity — a translation and adapta-
tion from the French of Henry D. Graffigny
— is the first and introductory volume of an
electro-mechanical series published by Whit-
taker & Co., London, and the Macmillan
Company, New York. The editor, in intro-
ducing the volumes, expresses the belief that
there is room for them because they explain
in very clear and non-mathematical language
the many and various applications of elec-
tricity. Many thousand copies of the origi-
nal French editions have been sold. The
present volume is divided into short chap-
ters, each dealing with a separate branch of
practical electricity — its nature, the units,
magnetism and indnction, practical measure-
ment, chemical generators, accumulators, dy-
namo-electric machinery, electric light, elec-
tricity as a motive power, electric chemistry
and electro-plating, bells and telephones, and
telegraphs. In the succeeding volumes of the
series the more important branches of the
subjects touched upon here will be treated
separately and in detail.

Franklin Story Conant was born in Bos-
ton in 1870; was educated in the public
schools of New England, at the University of
South Carolina, and at Williams College ; and
was a Doctor of Philosophy, Fellow, and
Adam T. Bruce Fellow in Johns Hopkins
University. He showed great appetency for
biological investigation and devoted himself
to it, at Baltimore, Beaufort, N. C, Wood's
Hole, and in Jamaica. He published a few
papers of mark, and would have published
many more if he had lived. He went to
Jamaica in June, 1897, to continue his inves-
tigations, and worked for nearly three months
on the development and on the physiology of
the sense organs of the Cubomcdusce. After

SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE.

>33

the death of the director of the expedition,
Dr. J. E. Humphrey, he took the burden
upon himself, and labored faithfully till he
contracted yellow fever ; returned to Boston,
and died there September 13, 1897. His as-
sociates of Johns Hopkins University have
published as a memorial volume of him his
dissertation on The Cubomedusce, which he
presented at the examination for the degree
of Doctor of Philosophy in June, 189*7, ac-
companied by a brief notice of his life and a
portrait.

Frederick H. Ripley and Thomas Tapper''
authors of the Natural Music Course, have
arranged A Short Course in Music, consist-
ing of two books, for use in schools in which
the more complete course is deemed un-
necessary or impracticable. In both books
familiar songs are made the basis of ele-
mentary music instruction. In these songs
the compositions of the best song writers are
represented. Exercises in two and three parts
in simple form are included in the course. A
brief summary of elementary theory is in-
serted in the appendix. Few definitions are
given, the thought of the learner being so
directed as to render them either unneces-
sary or obvious. In the cultivation of tone
and expression the authors insist that it is
the mind rather than the vocal organs that
at first needs attention. " If the pupil hears
the ideal tone he will almost instinctively im-
itate it." A number of portraits of com-
posers are given in connection with the
songs. (American Book Company. Price, 35
cents.)

Mr. Alfred Still, believing that there was
still room for a small book in which the
principles determining the behavior of sin-
gle-phase alternating currents under various
conditions should be considered less from
the point of view of the man of science than
from that of the engineer, offers Alternating
Currents of Electricity and the Theory of
Transformers for the place. The book has
been written, not only for engineering stu-
dents, but also for those engineers who,
while having extensive practical knowledge
of the subject, are yet anxious to get a cor-
rect elementary idea of the leading princi-
ples involved. Graphical methods are used
throughout, and the introduction of mathe-
matics has been carefully avoided. (Pub-

lished by Whittaker & Co., London ; The
Macmillan Company, New York. Price,
$1.50.)

A paper by A. B. Stickney, president of
the Chicago Great Western Railway Com-
pany, on The Currency Problems of the
United States in 1897-98, takes the ground
that currency is the creature of commerce ;
that legislation has nothing to do with it;
that its problems are purely economical ; and
that the only thing that can be done for it is
to improve the machinery of exchanges.

A valuable and useful publication is New
York State Library Bulletin, Legislation, No.
9, containing a summary of legislation by
States in 1897. This is the eighth annual
number of the series, and its purpose is to
show at a glance what laws have been passed
by States on any subject, except those of
purely local interest. The summaries, though
concise, so well cover the principal points of
the laws cited that consultation of the text
of the laws may often be dispensed with.
Constitutional amendments receive special
treatment. The references in the present
bulletin cover thirty-six States and three
Territories.

Two memoirs, published under one cover
by the Peabody Institute of American Archae-
ology and Ethnology, relate to explorations
by George Byron Cordon in two districts of
Honduras, affording relics different in char-
acter. The work at the ruins of Copan hav-
ing been suspended during 1896 and 1897 by
some act of the Government of Honduras,
Mr. Gordon had to turn his attention else-
where, to explorations the results of which
are given under the titles of Researches in
the Uloa Vadey and Caverns of Copan,
Honduras. The investigations in the Uloa
Valley afforded a rich fund of objects of
interest and of novel character — pottery
adorned with elaborate and remarkably ar-
tistic designs, stone images, whistles, terra-
cotta stamps, and only one idol. Human
remains, of the most meager description, in
connection with the pottery furnish reason-
able evidence of burial places, but, being
only crumbling fragments of bone, are too
minute to supply any information respecting
the form of burials or the relative position of
the objects associated with them. The con-
clusions are drawn that the valley was at one

13+

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

time well populated, but not for any length
of time occupied by the people whose ruined
buildings of stone are found in the region
up to southern Mexico, and that it was
visited by several distinct peoples in ancient
times. Some mounds covered with stone
were discovered which deserve further in-
vestigation. Five caves cf different size and
character, described in the second memoir,
were explored near Copan, and afforded
objects peculiar to themselves and evidences
of sepulture. They were very dusty, al-
though stalactites had formed in some of
them, and, although undoubtedly used by
man many centuries ago, they do not seem
to indicate a constant occupation for an ex-
tended period of time, or to furnish evidence
of an extreme antiquity of man in the re-
gion. The most striking feature about them
is probably the entire difference in character
of the pottery from that found at Copan,
only a few miles away, and its want of re-
semblance with the pottery of any other
locality with which the author is familiar.

A series of Bulletins, Some Miscellaneous
Results of the Work of the Division of En-
tomology, of the United States Department
of Agriculture, is intended to furnish such
material as was formerly published in Insect
Life, presenting the results of observations
made in the office of the bureau which are
not extensive enough upon any one topic to
form an independent and complete bulletin.
The second number contains notices by dif-
ferent authors, mostly connected with the
bureau, on twelve insects predatory on eco-
nomical plants, with numerous "general
notes " and correspondence.

Under the Stars, and Other Verses, is a
small collection of ballads, relating chiefly
to naval fights, by Wallace Rice and Barrett
Eastman, published by Way & Williams,
Chicago. It is dedicated " to the wider pa-
triotism," and appears well adapted to inflame
the martial spirit, which is in this country
already excited to an extremely unhealthy
extent.

PUBLICATIONS EECEIVED.

Agricultural Experiment Stations. Bulletins
and Reports. Cornell University: No. 150. Tu-
berculosis in Cattle and its Control. By James
Law. Pp. 30; No. 151: Gravity or Dilution Separa-
tors. ByH.H Wing. Pp. 12 —Purdue University:
No. 72. Field Experiments with Wheat. Pp. 12.
—United States Department of Agriculture. Bio-
logical: No. 9. Cuckoos and Shrikes in their
Relation to Agriculture. By F. E. L. Beal and
S. D. Judd. Pp. 26: No. 10. Life Zones and
Crop Zones of the United States. By C. Hart
Merriam. Pp. 79; No. 11. The Geographic Dis-
tribution of Cereals in North America. By (\ S.
Plumb. Pp. 24; Botany: No. 20. Principal Poi-
sonous Plants in the United States. By V. K.
Chesnut. Pp. 60.

Alexander, Archibald. Theories of the Will
in the History of Philosophy. New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons. Pp. 353. $1.50.

Allen, Alfred H., and Leffmann, Henry. Com-
mercial Organic Analysis. Third edition. Vol.1.
Philadelphia: Blakiston's Son & Co. Pp. 557.
$4.50.

Babbler, The. Semimonthly. June and July,
1898. New York: E. Rock, 406 Fourth Avenue.
Pp. 8. 10 cents. $2 a year.

Bailliere, J. B., et Fils, 19 Rue nautefenille,
Paris. Revue Mensuelle de Bibliographie Srien-
tifique (Monthly Review of Scientific Bibliogra-
phy), August, 1898. Pp. 20.

Carter, J. M. G. Advances in the Domr.in of
Preventive Medicine. Waukegan, 111. Pp. 13.

Chemical Publishing Company, Easton, Pa.
Catalogue. Pp. 26.

Columbia University Bulletin, June, 1898. Pp.
102, with plate.

Creighton, J. E. An Introductory Logic. New
York: The Macmillan Company. Pp.392. $110.

Drake, N. F. A Geological Reconnaissance of
the Coal Fields of the Indian Territory. Leland
Stanford, Jr., University, Palo Alto, Cal. Pp. 96.

Fitz-Maurice-Kelly. James. A History of
Spanish Literature. New York: D. Appleton and
Company. (Literature of the World Series.) Pp.
4*3. $1 .50.

Holden, Edward S. The Earth and Sky. A
Primer of Astronomy for Young Readers. (Ap-
pletons' Home- Reading Series.) New York: D.
Appleton and Company. Pp. 76, with plates. 28
cents.

Hering, Rudolph, New York. Dilution Pro-
cess of Sewage Disposal. Pp. 9.— Bacterial Pro-
cesses of Sewage Disposal. Pp. 14.

Industrialist, The. Ten times a year. June,
1898. Kansas State Agricultural College, Man-
hattan. Pp. 80. $1 a year.

Iowa Geological Survey, Vol. VIII. Annual
Report for 1897, etc. Samuel Calvin, State Geolo-
gist. Pp. 427.

Japan-American Commercial Journal. Month-
ly. Tokyo (Japan) Commercial and Industrial
Association. (English and Japanese.) Pp.80.

Jordan, David Starr. Lest we Forget (ad-
dress to graduating class). Pp. 36.-— Description
of a Species of Fish (Mitwkurina owsteni) from
Japan, the Type of a Distinct Family of Lamnoid
Sharks. Pp. 8, with plates.

Kindergarten. The, Review. Monthly. Spring-
field, Mass.: Milton Bradley Company. Pp. 64.
$2 a year.

Lambert, P. A. Differential and Integral Cal-
culus; for Technical Schools and College . New
York: The Macmillan Company. Pp.245. $1.50.

Luce, W. B., Hingham Centre, Mass. Kites
and Experiments in Aerial Photography. Pp. 82.
25 cents.

MacCurdy, George Grant, and Mohiliansky,
Nicolas. Indices Ponderaux du Crane (Weight
Indices of the Brain). Paris. Pp. 16.

MacClure. Theodore R. A Quarter-Century
of Public Health Work in Michigan. Lansiug.
Pp.48.

FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE.

135

Mivart, St. George. The Groundwork of Sci-
ence. A Study of Epistemology. New York:
G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp.328. $1.75.

Mustek, John R. Lights and Shadows of our
War with Spain. New York: J. S. Ogilvie Pub-
lishing Company. Pp. 224.

Muter, John. A Short Manual of Analytical
Chemistry, Qualitative and Quantitative— Inor-
ganic and Organic. Second American edition.
Philadelphia : Blakiston's Son & Co. Pp. 228.
$1.25.

New Jersey, Geological Survey of. Annual
Report of the State Geologist for 1897. Pp. 368.

New World, The. A Quarterly Review of Re-
ligion, Ethics, and Theology. September, 189S.
Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 200. 75
cents. $3 a year.

New York State College of Forestry at Cornell
University. Announcement. Pp. 40.

Shufeldt, Dr. R. W. On the Alternation of Sex
in a Brood of Young Sparrowhawks. Pp. 4.

Smith. William B. Infinitesimal Analysis. Vol.
I. Elementary; Real Variables. N>-w York. The
Macmillan Company. Pp. 352. $3.25.

Thomson, J. J. The Discharge of Electricity
through Gases. New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons. Pp. 203. $1.

Ui'iversity of Tennessee Record. Knoxville.
Pp.80.

Venable, P. P., and Howe, J. L. Inorganic
Chemistry according to the Periodic Law. Eas-
ton, Pa.: The Chemical Publishing Company.
Pp.266. $1.50.

Wilson, L. L. W. History Reader for Ele-
mentary Schools. New York: The Macmillan
Company. Pp. 403. 60 cents.

Wright, Mabel Osgood, and Chapman, Frank
M. Four-footed Americans and their Kin. New
York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 432. $1.50.

fragments uf Jcietxce.

Carbonic Aeid and Glaciation. — In a

paper on Hypotheses bearing on Climatic
Changes, Prof. T. C. Chamberlin takes up a
suggestion of Tyndall's that the periods of
terrestrial glaciation might be dependent
upon the carbon dioxide of the atmosphere,
the peculiar competence of which to retain
solar heat he had demonstrated. Following
out the doctrine of atmospheric loss on its
own lines, although only in a tentative way
as yet, he seems to find a rhythmical action
that may in part explain the glacial oscilla-
tions. The idea, he says, hinges on the action
of the ocean as a reservoir of carbon dioxide,
and on the losses of the organic cycle under
the influence of cold. Cold water absorbs
more carbon dioxide than warm water. As
the atmosphere becomes impoverished and
the temperature declines, the capacity of the
ocean to take up carbonic acid in solution in-
creases. Instead, therefore, of resupplying
the atmosphere in the stress of its impover-
ishment, the ocean withholds its carbon diox^
ide to a certain extent, and possibly even
turns robber itself by greater absorption.
So also, with increased cold the progress of
organic decay becomes less active, a greater
part of the vegetal and animal matter re-
mains undecomposed, and its carbon is there-
by locked up ; and hence the loss of carbon
dioxide through the organic cycle is in-
creased. The impoverishment of the atmos-
phere is thus hastened and the epoch of

cold is precipitated. With the spread of
glaciation the main crystalline areas whose
alteration is the chief source of depletion
become covered and frozen, and the abstrac-
tion of carbon dioxide by rock alteration is
checked. The supply continuing the same,
by hypothesis, re-enrichment begins, and
when it has sufficiently advanced warmth
returns. With returning warmth the ocean
gives up its carbon dioxide more freely, the
accumulated organic products decay and add
their contribution of carbonic acid, and the
re-enrichment is accelerated and interglacial
mildness is hastened.

Additions to the Missouri Botanical Gar-
den. — We learn from the ninth annual report
of the Missouri Botanical Garden that while
the decorative features were maintained in
1897 in about the same manner as hereto-
fore, considerable additions have been made
in certain classes, especially orchids, and the
collections of cultivated species, with their
named varieties, are now estimated to num-
ber about five thousand. Circumstances
made possible material additions to the con-
tents of the herbarium ; and, besides the
purchased current collections, rather larger
and more numerous than usual, the garden
has secured the herbarium of the late J. H.
Redfield, very rich in earlier collections rep-
resenting the flora of the United States ; the
herbarium of the late Dr. J. F. Joor, contain-

i3 6

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

ing 4,133 specimens, and largely adding to
the representation of the flora of Louisiana
and Texas ; the interesting herbarium of Gus-
tav Jermy, of San Antonio, Texas, contain-
ing a very full set of Carpathian plants and
a nearly complete local flora ; the important
pre-Linna?an herbarium formed by Boehmer
and Ludwig ; and a Chinese collection by Dr.
A. Henry. Even larger additions were made
to the library. The instruction of garden
pupils was continued, and the garden was
visited by several research students. Among
the scientific papers accompanying the re-
port and bound with it are those of C. H.
Thompson on American Lemnaceas; N. N.
Glatf elter on Salix longipes ; H. C. Irish on
the Genus Capsicum ; A. S. Hitchcock on
Cryptogams collected in the Bahamas, Ja-
maica, and Grand Cayman ; J. N. Rose on
Agaves ; C. H. Thompson on Cacti Anhalo-
nium ; and seven shorter papers under the
heading of " Notes and Observations."

The Indian Idea of the " Midmost Self."

— In attempting to explain the significance
of a pentagonal stone dodecahedron with
vestiges of figures on it found near Marietta,
Ohio, Dr. J. C. Morris assumed that, besides
the Aryan idea of three dimensions of space,
there is, to the Indian and to the Eastern
mind, another — the fullness. " It is not the
length and breadth and thickness of a cube,
for instance, but the whole of it, which is as
much to be considered as any one of its
sides. A cube would therefore be represent-
ed numerically by seven, a dodecahedron by
thirteen. Among the Mexicans the thirteen
lunar months would thus correspond in the
year with the twelve zodiacal signs and the
earth which passed under and embraced
them all." Again, the five digits came to be
a measure of man's power or individuality,
and thus a sacred number. A pentagonal
dodecahedron, then, might be the emblem
of the world ; and the best time to be ac-
tive in some contemplated pursuit might be
shown by the zodiacal sign that came upper-
most when the dodecahedron was thrown or
rolled with appropriate ceremonies. As Mr.
Frank H. Cushing interpreted the doctrine at
the same meeting of the Anthropological So-
ciety, when the primitive man contemplates
or considers himself or anything in its rela-
tion to space or the surrounding directions,

" he notices that there is ever a front or face,
a rear or back ; two sides, or a right and a
left ; a head and a foot, or an above and a
below ; and that of and within all of these
is himself or it ; that the essence of all these
aspects in anything is the thing itself — that
is, the thing that contains their numbers or
sum, yet is one by itself. This is indeed the
very key to his conception of himself and of
anything in relation to space and the uni-
verse or cosmos. He observes that there are
as many regions in the world as there are
aspects of himself or sides to any equally
separate thing; that there are as many di-
rections from him or his place in the world
(which is his ' midmost ' or place of attach-
ment to the Earth-mother), or from anything
in the world (which is its midmost or natu-
ral station), toward these corresponding re-
gions. Hence to him a plane would be sym-
bolized not by four, but by five — its four
sides and directions thence, and its central
self — as was actually the notion of the prairie
tribes ; a cube, not by six, but by seven, as
was the notion of the valley Pueblos and
Navajos; a dodecahedron, not by twelve,
but by thirteen, as was the notion of the
Zunis, the Aztecs, and apparently — from this
example — of the mound builders as well."

The Bactrian Camel for the Klondike. —

The great Siberian or Bactrian camel is rec-
ommended by Mr. Carl Hagenbeck, the fa-
mous Hamburg importer of wild beasts, as
the best animal for the Klondike climate.
It is at home in the coldest regions, can
carry or go in harness, can cross mountains
or traverse valleys, and is so easily supplied
that Mr. Hagenbeck can undertake to deliver
any number in New York, duty paid, for three
hundred dollars each. It can endure thirst
and long spells of hunger as well as freezing
cold, and is not too delicate to make its bed on
the snow. It sheds its coat before the sum-
mer heat, but as the cooler weather of the fall
comes on " it grows a garment of fur almost
as thick as a buffalo robe and equally cold-
resisting. It is far more strongly built than
the southern camel. It does not ' split '
when on slippery ground, though it falls on
moist, wet clay which yields to the foot. On
ice and frozen snow it stands firmly, and can
travel far." It is said that an excellent cross
can be made between the male Bactrian and

FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE.

137

the female Arabian camel; but when the
parentage is reversed the progeny is useless.
General Harlan is said to have marched two
thousand Bactrian camels four hundred miles
and crossed the Indian Caucasus in ice and
snow, with the loss of only one auimal, and
that by an accident. This camel is native to
the high plateaus, steppes, and deserts of
Mongolia and South Siberia, and it has been
found wild on the plain of Tsaidam, main-
taining itself in this "arid, cold, and wa-
terless region, where the herds are said to
travel seventy miles to drink. Nothing,"
we are further told, " but too much comfort
or a damp climate seems to hurt it. For
food it prefers dry, salty plants and bushes
and grows sick and lean on good pasture.
The salty efflorescence of the steppes is ea-
gerly eaten by it, and in this country it pre-
fers dry food, especially wheat straw and
hay. Prjevalski's camels would eat almost
anything — straw, bleached bones, old pack
saddles, straps, and leather. The Mongols
told him of camels which had been without
food a long time, and then devoured an old
tent belonging to their owner. They even
ate meat and fish, and one of the traveler's
camels made a meal of the bird skins ready
for stuffing."

Nicaragua and its Ferns. — Tropical Amer-
ica is described by B. Shimek, in a paper on
the Ferns of Nicaragua, as the fern paradise
of the earth. " No other corresponding di-
vision of the earth's surface," he says, " pre-
sents as great a total number of species, or
as many species which are peculiar to it.
Nowhere else is the great variation in form
and size, in structural characters and habits
of growth, and in the arrangement and char-
acter of the reproductive organs, better shown
than here. This richness in the fern flora,
exhibited in almost unlimited variety, is, no
doubt, accounted for by the topography and-
contour of that part of the American conti-
nent which lies within the tropics. It is nar-
row when compared with the continents of
the Old World, and it contains high moun-
tain chains, which form its longest axis. Its
narrow form brings all of it more or less
within the influence of the adjacent oceans,
which furnish to most of it an abundance of
moisture. Its high mountains supply all the
conditions effected by altitude, and, more-

over, cut off the otherwise abundant moisture
from certain areas. We have thus within
comparatively restricted limits all the possi-
ble degrees of moisture and temperature, and
the effect of environment finds abundant ex-
pression in the great variety of fern struc-
tures." After palms, ferns form the most con-
spicuous feature of tropical vegetation, and in
size they vary from species only a fraction of
an inch high to splendid tree ferns or vines
single fronds of which are more than thirty
feet long. In texture " some rival the flim-
siest lace, while others develop thick, leathery
fronds. ... In habit the variation is fully as
great. In western Nicaragua, for example,
where there is a distinct dry season, ferns
growing on bare volcanic rock become so dry
that they may be ground to powder between
the fingers, and yet they retain life ; while in
the eastern part, with its deep jungles in
which perpetual shade and moisture prevail,
the more delicate as well as the more gor-
geous forms have full opportunity for the
development of their many peculiarities."
In a very small territory of Nicaragua, in-
cluding a strip along the San Juan River in
no case extending more than six miles away
from it, and in the little island of Ometepe
in Lake Nicaragua, Mr. Shimek, in less than
four months, while engaged in general bo-
tanical work, collected more than a hundred
and twenty species of ferns ; and yet only
about one fifth of one hundred and twenty-
one species recorded by Founder, two fifths
of one hundred and thirty-five species cred-
ited by Hemsley to Nicaragua, and two fifths
of those reported by Baker and Hemsley
from adjacent Costa Rica, occur in his list.

Wave Length and other Measurements.

— Describing the measurement of absolute
wave length before the Astronomical and
Physical Society of Toronto, Mr. A. F. Miller
remarked that a somewhat incorrect idea
prevailed as to the smallness of the space
occupied in the performance of luminous un-
dulations; in fact, some people seem to re-
gard the wave length of light as something
almost inconceivably small. Really, how-
ever, we are familiar with much smaller di-
mensions. For instance, the author had
found from actual measures that the wave
length of one of the characteristic lines in
the spectrum of sodium vapor was very nearly

i 3 8

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

equal to 77000 °f an inch. The thickness of
ordinary gold leaf is given as jg-giroTr of an
inch, from which it becomes evident that the
wave length of sodium light, which is an
average wave length for the visible spec-
trum, is six and a half times as great as the
thickness of gold leaf. Such a dimension as
4-2 otto °f an i ncn could readily be measured
by a suitable micrometer ; but of course the
waves of light, as well as the ether particles
by which they are transmitted, are entirely
invisible, and even were this otherwise the
frequency of the undulations is so inconceiv-
ably great that the actual phenomena of the
movements could never become perceptible.
In measuring the absolute wave length, there-
fore, we are forced to take the indirect
method of observing the results of undula-
tions in cases where, by a suitable arrange-
ment of the experiment, equal and opposite
phases of vibration are made to arrive simul-
taneously at the same spot, so producing
phenomena of interference.

The " Cansses " of Southern France. —

It is surprising to find existing, in a country
so old and supposedly so familiar as France,
a region similar to our Colorado plateau, full
of canons, caves, and cliff dwellings, until
recently almost unknown and wholly un-
explored. Yet such is the region of the
Causses, described and illustrated with a
striking series of lantern views, before the
American Association for the Advancement
of Science, by the well-known cave explorer,
Dr. H. C. Hovey, of Newburyport, Mass. The
local name Causse, derived from the Latin
calx, lime, is applied to a limestone area, and
here to a limestone plateau. Along the west-
ern slope of the Cevennes Mountains lies an
elevated table-land, chiefly of Jurassic lime-
stones, which had been cut and carved by
the streams, especially the Tarn and its afflu-
ents, into a group of high plateaus separated
by deep canons. The cliffs of the Tarn Val-
ley are from one to two thousand feet and
even more in height, and with their precipi-
tous sides and the brilliant and varied color-
ing of their strata are not unworthy of com-
parison with our own great canon regions of
the West. At some points, where the beds
are markedly unequal in hardness, the weath-
ering process has resulted in structures as
remarkable as Monument Park or the Gar-

den of the Gods. Such is the " rock city "
known as Montpellier-le-Vieux, at the junc-
tion of the Jonte and the Durbais, on the
Causse Noir. This strange area of natural
ruins covers some two thousand acres with a
fantastic similitude of castles, palaces, streets,
and temples. It seems surprising that a
country so picturesque for the tourist and so
interesting for the geologist should have re-
mained almost unknown till the present time.
Fine roads pass over and around it, but they
avoid the wild and rugged portions that pos-
sess such scenic interest, and leave the Causses
— as they have been for ages — barren soli-
tudes, occupied only by shepherds with their
huts and flocks. The people, also, as is so often
the case in such regions, have a superstitious
dread of the deeper caverns and the seeming
ruins, and do not lend themselves readily to
exploration. The cliffs are full of caves,
some of which — the more accessible and
simple — are used as sheepfolds, and even in
some cases inhabited, but the wilder ones
are held in dread. It seems that cliff dwell-
ings are actually still in use to some extent
in this region. The French Societe de Spele-
ologie has now for some years been inves-
tigating the Causses with great interest.
Ere long this will become a favorite re-
gion for tourists ; but at present one must
leave all ordinary facilities of travel and
take to canoes and mules. This was done
by Dr. Hovey and his party, under the lead-
ership of M. Edouard A. Martel, of Paris,
who has been one of the most active ex-
plorers. They entered and traversed many
remarkable caves, some never before visited,
and some that have been previously explored
by M. Martel and others of the societe.
One of these, known as the Baumes Chaudes,
is a great triple cavern, one of the main
branches of which had yielded a large num-
ber of prehistoric skeletons to Dr. Pruni-
eres, of Marvejol. In the third division
are a number of deep pits, locally called
" wells," from forty to a hundred and thirty
feet deep; these communicate with lower
passages and subterranean streams. They
are death-traps to animals, the remains of
which, of many kinds and in all stages of
decomposition, accumulate at the bottom, and
are gradually covered by stalagmitic de-
posits. Another remarkable cave was dis-
covered and named after its daring and en-

FRAGMENTS' OF SCIENCE.

139

thusiastic explorer, M. Louis Armand, of
Paris. It can only be entered by a " well "
two hundred and forty feet deep, and below
this lies another of still greater depth. The
party was provided with rope ladders for
use in such places ; and the intrepid investi-
gator who essayed the descent went down,
by actual measurement, six hundred feet
from the surface. He described the stalac-
tites as magnificent. Both from a geologi-
cal and an archasological point of view this
account was of unusual interest. Dr. Hovey
had many beautiful views of the canons and
the cave openings in their walls ; while his
observations, and those of the Societe de
Speleologie, are very curious as to the per-
sistence, in this strangely overlooked region,
of conditions closely akin to what are usu-
ally called " prehistoric " times.

Molecular Asymmetry and Life. — Speak-
ing in his presidential address to the Chem-
ical Section of the British Association on
Stereochemistry and Vitalism, Prof. A. R.
Japp expressed the conclusion that " the
production of single asymmetric compounds
or their isolation from the mixture of their
enantiomorphs [or opposite forms] is, as
Pasteur firmly held, the prerogative of life.
Only the living organism, with its asymmet-
ric tissues, or the asymmetric productions
of the living organism, or the living intelli-
gence with its conception of asymmetry, can
produce this result. Only asymmetry can
beget asymmetry. The absolute origin of
the compounds of one-sided asymmetry is a
mystery as profound as the absolute origin
of life itself. The two phenomena are inti-
mately connected. ... No fortuitous con-
course of atoms, even with all eternity for
them to clash and combine in, could compass
this feat of the formation of the first optic-
ally active organic compound. Coincidence
is excluded, and every purely mechanical
explanation of the phenomena must neces-
sarily fail. I see no escape from the conclu
sion that at the moment when life first arose
a directive force came into play — a force of
precisely the same character as that which
enables the intelligent operator, by the exer-
cise of his will, to select one crystallized en-
antiomorph and reject its asymmetric oppo-
site. I would emphasize the fact that the
operation of a directive force of this na-

ture does not involve a violation of the law
of the conservation of energy."

Dr. Russell's Photographic Researches.

— At the recent meeting of the British Asso-
ciation at Bristol, Dr. W. T. Russell gave,
before the Chemical Section, some further
information regarding his recent researches
on the surprising action exerted by certain
substances in the absence of light on photo-
graphic plates. The Journal of the Society
of Arts gives some of his more striking re-
sults : " Some ordinary type, a portion of the
cover of Punch, and the wrapper of a packet
of tobacco produced strongly defined pic-
tures ; the last mentioned was particularly
interesting, inasmuch as the red ink had
proved active, the blue inactive. Strangely,
writing ink (old-fashioned) is quite inactive,
and paper having writing on it in ink, even
over a hnndred years old, when placed be-
tween a sheet of active material and a sen-
sitive plate, yielded a picture in which the
writing appeared quite distinctly, white on
black, in spite of the original being in some
cases indistinct; ferrous sulphate behaves
like ink. The list of materials that are ac-
tive is very long, and includes wood, which
gives a picture of the grain and knots.
Many metals are active, but zinc is very ac-
tive only when bright, so that a dirty sheet
of zinc rubbed with sandpaper gives a pic-
ture of the scratches. Many alloys are also
active, pewter and fusible metal being two
of them, and curiously some brasses are,
while others are not. The effective agency
that passes from the material to the sensitive
plate shows peculiarities. It passes through
gelatin, gutta-percha, celluloid, collodion,
wet gum arabic, and some paper, while other
paper, glass, minerals transparent to light,
and many other substances are opaque to
these emanations, and some striking effects
were exhibited demonstrating the interfer-
ence of these opaque substances when inter-
posed between an active substance and the
sensitive plate. For instance, a five-pound
note placed printing downward on the sensi-
tive plate gave a picture of the printing in-
scription, but when placed under a zinc plate
with the printing toward the zinc plate it
gave a picture of the opaque paper with the
water marks distinctly showing, and, what is
still more astonishing, the zinc plate, after

140

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

contact with the note, itself yielded a picture
of the inscription, showing that the influence
from the ink had passed to the zinc plate.
It was noteworthy that the signature was
not in writing ink. A cutting from the
Times, the paper being transparent, showed
a picture of the printing on both sides; the
picture, moreover, was reversible, showing
that a perfect picture of both sides of the
paper had been impressed on the one plate.
This interesting phenomenon is, however,
not quite explained, but the great amount of
work he has done leads him to the provi-
sional opinion that the effect is due to the
evolution of hydrogen peroxide."

Scientific "Trade Hunting."— The re-
cent movement in England toward the estab-
lishment by the Government of a commercial
intelligence office for the securing and diffu-
sion of information regarding foreign trade
has given rise to considerable discussion
among the English trade papers. The busi-
ness of the office is to be the gathering of
general information of interest and value to
the English merchant with a foreign trade,
and especially of pointing out new ways for
the extension of foreign commerce, and call-
ing attention to possible new markets for
English goods. A number of schemes have
been proposed, among others that of sending
an expert once every year or two to the
different foreign " trade areas," for the pur-
pose of collecting information and samples,
and of giving a trustworthy estimate of its
commercial prospects ; another, that of ex-
tending the consular reports in such a man-
ner as to compass the same ends. There is
considerable opposition to the scheme from
some branches of business, where it is held
that no one is so likely to get hold of useful
information as the trader himself, and that
the publishing of such Government reports
as the scheme contemplates would result in
giving the information to foreign as well as
English traders, and thus negative whatever
advantage might come to the English mer-
chant from his individual discovery of a
valuable market.

Dr. IVenfeld. — The London Times of Sep-
tember 13th gives the following account of
the career of Dr. Neufeld, who has just been
delivered from captivity in Omdurman by

the English forces : " Karl Neufeld studied
medicine at Leipsic University, and went
early in life to Egypt, following first his pro-
fession as a medical man and subsequently
as a merchant. At the beginning of the
eighties he had a practice at Keneh, Upper
Egypt, where several Germans and also Da-
tives of his own home saw him. Subse-
quently he set up as a merchant at Assouan.
After the fall of Khartoum and the firm
establishment of the Mahdi's power at Om-
durman, Neufeld seems to have formed a
scheme for opening up commercial inter-
course with the closed Soudan, for he
equipped a caravan with which he proceed-
ed to Berber, which was then in the hands of
Osman Digna. The latter sent the German,
whom he looked upon as a dangerous spy,
to the Khalifa Abdullahi. This was in 1886.
Neufeld was condemned to death, and was
taken to the place of execution. He behaved
there so courageously, asking to be executed
like a Mohammedan, instead of suffering death
by hanging, that the Khalifa was struck and
respited him under the gallows. He was
taken to the general prison, with heavy chains
on his hands and feet, and treated altogether
in a most abominable manner. He was kept
alive by the women, who took pity on him
and fed him, as they had done before him to
Slatin. Then an endeavor was made to util-
ize his knowledge. He knew nothing about
founding cannon, but he managed to manu-
facture powder, and he was also ordered to
invent a machine for coining money. Owing
to the escape of Father Ohrwalder and, later,
of Slatin Pasha, his position became worse.
He was again manacled and threatened with
having his arms and feet hacked off if he
should attempt to escape. There were many
efforts to liberate him. The Austrian Catho-
lic mission, induced by Father Ohrwalder,
Slatin Pasha, the British Government, the
German, and more especially the Austrian,
representatives at Cairo, all endeavored to
further the escape of Neufeld. He fre-
quently received money, but he refused to
escape, as he would not accept liberty with-
out his wife — an Abyssinian slave presented
to him by the Khalifa — and the two children
whom she had borne him. The latter would
have been exposed to fearful tortures, and
thus Neufeld chose to remain a prisoner. He
was active subsequently also as an artist, and

FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE.

141

as he could draw well he was ordered to
decorate the mausoleum of the Mahdl, and
this pleased the women of the Khalifa so
much that they petitioned the latter for his
liberation. It is also said that he has writ-
ten Arabic books and illustrated them. The
latter part of his twelve years' detention ap-
pears to have been less onerous, as after the
escape of Slatin he had to be interpreter
to the Khalifa and translator of European
newspapers which the ruler of the Soudan
received regularly. It is to the credit of the
Khalifa Abdullahi that not one of the
Christian prisoners received a hurt on the
approach of the Anglo-Egyptian forces. It
is expected that a narrative of his experience
in the Soudan will be shortly published by
Dr. Neufeld."

Natural Selection and Fortuitous Varia-
tion — The three principal objections urged
against Darwin's theory of natural selection
were stated by Prof. W. F. R. Weldon, in
his presidential address to the Section of
Zoology and Physiology of the British Asso-
ciation, as being that the species of animals
we know fall into orderly series for the
selection of which purely fortuitous varia-
tions can not be supposed to afford opportu-
nity ; that minute structural variations can
not be supposed to affect the death-rate so
much as the theory requires they should,
while many of the characters by which spe-
cies are distinguished appear to us so small
and useless that they can not be supposed to
affect the chance of survival at all ; and that
the process of evolution by natural selection
is so extremely slow that the time required
for its operation is longer than the extreme
limit of time given by estimates of the age
of the earth. The first of these objections
the speaker alleged to be due to a misunder-
standing of words ; we regard as fortuitous
what we do not understand ; and he proceeded
to explain how what we call chance may be
shown, especially by a method developed by
Professor Pearson, to be a real and important
factor. To the other two objections Pro-
fessor Weldon opposed the results of ob-
servations of his own and of Mr. Herbert
Thompson on the small shore crabs ( Carci-
nus mcenas) at Plymouth Beach. " In these
crabs small changes in the size of the fron-
tal breadth do, under certain circumstances,

affect the death-rate ; and the mean frontal
breadth among this race of crabs is, in fact,
changing at a rate sufficiently rapid for all
the requirements of a theory of evolution."
In conclusion, he said : " I hope I have con-
vinced you that the law of chance enables
one to express easily and simply the fre-
quency of variations among animals, and I
hope I have convinced you that the action of
natural selection upon such fortuitous varia-
tions can be experimentally measured, at
least in the only case in which any one has
attempted to measure it. I hope I have
convinced you that the process of evolution
is sometimes so rapid that it can be observed
in the space of a very few years." The
whole difficulty of natural selection, he
added, is a quantitative difficulty ; and he
insisted upon the need of observations and
measurements of the rates of variation.

The Interior of Canada. — The country
between Lake St. John and James Bay is
under survey by the Department of Coloni-
zation and Mines of Quebec, in furtherance
of a scheme for a transcontinental railroad
to tap the Hudson Bay country and Lake
Winnipeg. As to the commercial advan-
tages of a railway center established at the
head of James Bay or at the limit of tide
water on the Nottaway River, Mr. O'Sullivan,
the surveyor, shows that the shore line of
Hudson and James Bay, following the east
coast from the mouth of the Nottaway to
the southern entrance to Hudson Strait,
measures, in a line running due north, eight
hundred miles, or about the same distance
as the former point is north of the city of
Washington ; and the western shore line,
measured in the same way to Rowe's Wel-
come, is about sixteen hundred miles, while
the area inclosed amounts to more than
three hundred and fifty thousand square
miles. While Hudson Strait is blocked
with ice during nine months of the year, the
bay itself is navigable from June till Novem-
ber, and James Bay is generally open early
in May. All the large rivers — the Albany,
Moose, Hannah, Nottaway, Rupert, Main, and
Big Rivers — converge along these shores, and
the forest wealth of the thousands of miles
drained by these and lesser rivers can be
concentrated at the mouth of the Nottaway or
Rupert. The land along the line from Lake

142

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

St. John is good dry land fit for settlement.
The Nottaway at the crossing point is four-
teen hundred and fifty feet wide, and ad-
mits bridge spans of five hundred feet.
Thence, a direct line to Norway House, at
the foot of Lake Winnipeg, would pass
through the gypsum beds on Moose River,
and give access to a vast area of rich agri-
cultural land in the north part of the prov-
ince of Quebec. The straight line continued
would strike about the forks of the Peace
and Smoky Rivers, near the center of the
northwest wheat-growing region, and thence
follow the valleys of the Peace and Skeene
Rivers to the Pacific Ocean, crossing the
Rocky Mountains at a point where the sum-
mit is two thousand feet lower than that
of the Canadian Pacific Railway. As to
the resources of this northwestern country,
there are, according to a Dominion official

report, an area of six hundred and fifty-six
thousand square miles along the Mackenzie
River suitable for the growth of potatoes, four
hundred and seven thousand suitable for bar-
ley, and three hundred and sixteen thousand
for wheat, with a pastoral area of eight hun-
dred and sixty thousand square miles, two
hundred and seventy-four thousand miles of
which may be regarded as arable land. " The
difference in latitude makes no corresponding
difference in the climate. Flowers bloom as
early in the spring and as late in autumn at
Great Slave Lake as at Winnipeg or St.
Paul and Minneapolis. The prevailing south-
west or Chinook winds render the climate
along the Peace and Liard Rivers as mild and
salubrious as that of western Ontario.
Wheat ripens along the Mackenzie River
under the Arctic Circle, a thousand miles
farther north than Rupert House."

MINOR PARAGRAPHS.

Mr. W. H. Huddleston, in his presiden-
tial address to the Geological Section of the
British Association, spoke of the geology of
the southwest of England, and began with
supporting the claim of Bristol, where the
association was meeting, to be regarded as
the cradle of British geology, and even more ;
for, he said, Devonshire, Cornwall, and
West Somerset first attracted the attention
of the Ordnance Geological Survey. " Thus
it comes to pass that the region which lies
between the Bristol Channel and the Eng-
lish Channel claims the respect of geologists
in all parts of the world, not only as the
birthplace of stratigraphical paleontology,
but also as the original home of systematic
geological survey. The city of Bristol lies
on the confines of this region, where it
shades off northwestward into the Palaeozoics
of Wales and northeastward into the Meso-
zoics of the midland counties."

A committee of the English Society of
Arts, appointed to inquire into the matter,
attribute the doubtful quality of modern
paper to " revolutionary " changes which the
industry has undergone, including the intro-
duction of new substances of varying quali-
ties and chemical properties, in the working
up of which there is still room for much im-
provement. The committee have examined
many books, as evidence, on the question of

the deterioration of paper. They distinguish
two tendencies — to disintegration and to dis-
coloration—which are independent but may
be concurrent effects, and are notably con-
current in papers containing mechanical
wood pulp. Disintegration, which has been
brought to light in papers of all grades, is
generally the result of chemical changes in the
fibers, produced by acids in the rag papers,
and by oxidation in the papers made of me-
chanical wood pulp. Discoloration of ordi-
nary cellulose papers, as distinguished from
papers containing mechanical wood pulp, is
dependent upon the quality of the sizing,
and particularly the proportion of rosin in it.
The committee define as the normal standard
of quality for book papers, required for pub-
lications of permanent value, fibers not less
than seventy per cent of the cotton, flax,
and hemp class, sizing not more than two per
cent rosin, the paper to be finished with the
normal acidity of pure alum, and the loading
to be not more than ten per cent mineral
matter.

Colonel G. E. Church, president of the
Geographical Section of the British Associa-
tion, pointed out in his opening address,
which was on Argentine geography and the
ancient Pampean Sea, that the drainage area
of the Plata basin was, according to Dr.
Bludan, 1,198,000 square miles, or more than

FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE.

H3

two and a half times that of the Pacific
slope of the Andes. The minimum water
discharge into the Plata estuary would,
every twenty-four hours, make a lake one
mile square and 1,650 feet deep. About
seventy-four per cent of it would represent
the flow of the Parana, and twenty six per
cent that of the Uruguay River. These
interlaced with the affluents of the Amazon
along a line of fourteen degrees of longitude
The author sought to show that the Plata
drainage area was, in a recent geological
period, much more extensive than it is to-
day ; that its extreme northern limit was in
10° 44' south latitude, and that nearly all the
waters that now unite to form the Madeira
River, the main affluent of the Amazon,
once flowed southward into a Pampean sea
that penetrated north over the plains of the
present Argentine Republic to about 19°
south latitude.

Dr. Le Neve Foster, who nearly met his
death in 189*7 from carbonic-oxide poisoning
while investigating a mine accident in the
Isle of Man, discussing, in his report on the
disaster, the origin of the gas, points out
that although it occurs occluded in certain
rocks and minerals, it has never been found
as a natural constituent of the atmosphere
of the mines. He had, therefore, to seek an
artificial source, and found it in the burning
of the timber in the mine. It appeared that
the combustion of a cubic foot of larch, the
wood used in the timber construction of the
Snaefell mine, gives rise to enough carbonic
oxide to occupy four hundred and seventeen
feet of space at a temperature of 60° F. and
a pressure of thirty inches. Twenty-five cubic
feet of timber will yield sufficient to infect
the atmosphere with one per cent of the gas
all through the mine— enough to cause almost
immediate loss of consciousness and speedy
death. It is important, therefore, to avoid,
as much as possible the use of combustible
material in the shafts and roadways of mines,
unless they are constantly wet or damp. It
is also well to have compressed oxygen at
hand for the restoration of asphyxiated per-
sons, and also apparatus for penetrating
noxious gases.

Rafting, similar to that which formerly
distinguished the navigation of the Ohio and
Mississippi Rivers, and to that which is still

employed by the wood dealers on the great
rivers of northern Russia and Siberia, is in
use among the farmers of the middle and
upper courses of the Yang-tse-Kiang as a
means of getting their produce to market.
They join rafts till they have a surface of
two or three acres, care being taken not to
have them too large for the river at its nar-
rowest passages, and on these they build
veritable farmsteads, with dwelling houses,
barns, stables, and pigpens, for horses,
cattle, and swine ; and provide supplies of
hay, fodder, and provisions for beast and
man, to last the human and animal popula-
tion of the craft during their journey of six
hundred or nine hundred miles. The men
on board are not idle through this journey,
but have their stock of osier twigs and spend
their time making baskets and other articles.
Arrived at one of the great river marts, the
people dispose of their animals and products,
sell the articles they have made, and find
markets for the material of their rafts with
the dealers in lumber and firewood — just as
the Ohio and Mississippi boatmen used to do.
Then they return home.

NOTES.

The New York School of Applied De-
sign for Women, 200 West Twenty third
Street, was organized for the purpose of
affording to women instruction which will
enable them to earn their livelihood by the
employment of their taste and manual dex-
terity in the application of ornamental de-
sign to manufacture and the arts. Besides
eight elementary courses, it has a course in
historic ornament, advanced courses in the
applications of design to the manufacture of
wall paper and silk, and of the elementary
instruction to the work of an architect's
draughtsman, and to illustrating and lithog-
raphy ; and special courses in book-cover
designing, advanced design, animal drawing
for illustration, stained glass designing, water-
color painting, and interior decoration. The
instructors are practical men from manufac-
toiies and architects' offices. Pupils are al-
lowed to proceed as rapidly as they master
the successive steps in the course of instruc-
tion, without having to conform to a fixed
period.

Communicating to the American Associa-
tion the results of experiments in fig-raising
in California, Dr. L. O. Howard said that the
trees produced from imported Smyrna cut-
tings dropped most of their fruit, whence it
seemed that something was wanting. This
was found to be the fertilizing insect, Mas-

i 4 4

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

tophora pxenes, which inhabits the wild fig
trees or caprifigs of the Mediterranean coun-
tries, and which the fig-growers procure by
bringing down twigs of these trees from the
mountains at the fertilizing season. Artifi-
cial fertilization of figs has been tried in
California with considerable success; but it
is thought that if the caprifig and its insect
can be naturalized in California, there will
be no difficulty in raising figs the equal to
those of Smyrna.

Discussing at the meeting of the Ameri-
can Association the position of the trilobites
in classification, Prof. A. S. Packard referred
to the discovery of Beecher that certain gen-
era of them have antenna? together with
biramose legs, essentially the same for the
head and trunk, and double, so that one por-
tion is available for swimming and the other
for crawling. He then showed that this uni-
formity of appendages does not occur in the
Crustacece, to which the trilobites have been
referred heretofore. For this reason, and
because the young have a different form
from crustacean young, zoologists are in-
clined to refer the trilobites to a separate
class and to regard them as an older, more
primitive group. From certain obvious
affinities, the Limulus, or king crab, may be
regarded as a descendant from the trilobites.

On Thursday, September 15th, Mr. Stan-
ley Spencer and Dr. Berson ascended from
the Crystal Palace, near London, in a balloon
inflated with pure hydrogen to the remark-
able height of twenty-seven thousand five
hundred feet, only fifteen hundred feet be-
low the highest ascent of Coxwell and
Glaisher. Numerous scientific instruments
were carried, and also a cylinder of com-
pressed oxygen for inhaling at great heights.
It was found necessary to use the oxygen at
twenty-five thousand feet.

In the discussion in the British Associa-
tion of a communication by Professors E. B.
Roser and W. 0. Atwater recording their ex-
periments (American) on the amount of energy
supplied to and obtainable from the human
body — which are found to be equal — Prof.
W. E. Ayrton, presiding, pointed out that
the energy of muscular action is probably
capillary or electrical, the human machine
being more analogous to an electric battery
or motor than to a steam engine.

In the list of officers of the American
Association for 18y9, published in our last
number, the name of L. 0. Howard, of the
Department of Agriculture, Washington,
should have appeared as permanent secre-
tary.

The hundredth anniversary of the inven-
tion of the voltaic or electric pile is to be
celebrated in 1899 at Como, the birthplace
of Alexander Yolta, bv an international elec-

trical exhibition. A national exhibition of
the manufacture of silk — machinery, prepa-
ration, and processes — will be held in con-
nection with it. An international congress
will also be held for the discussion of the
progress and applications of electricity.

A prize of five hundred guineas is of-
fered by the Sulphate of Ammonia Commit-
tee, 4 Fenchurch Avenue, London, for the
best essay on The Utility of Sulphate of
Ammonia in Agriculture ; the committee to
have entire disposal of the selected essay,
and the refusal of any of the others for not
more than fifty guineas each. The essays — in
English — should be in the hands of the com-
mittee not later than November 15, 1898.

Recent death lists include the names,
among men known to science, of Prof. Park
Merrill, chief of the Forecast Division of the
Weather Bureau, at Washington, August
8th ; Dr. E. V. Aveling, late assistant in
physiology at Cambridge and professor of
chemistry and physiology at New College, a
writer upon scientific topics, in London,
August 4th, aged forty-seven years ; M. Paul
Sevret, mathematician and member of the
French Academy of Sciences, in Pai is, June
24th, aged seventy years ; W. F. R. Sur-
ringer, professor of botany in the University
of Ley den, and director of the Botanical
Garden and Herbarium; J. A. R. Newlands,
the discoverer of the periodic law of the
chemical elements, in Lower Clapton, Lon-
don, July 29th, aged sixty-nine years ; the
astronomer Romberg, who succeeded Encke
at Berlin in 1864, and was called to Pulkova
in 1873, author of numerous papers in
Monthly Notices on double stars and plan-
etary and cometary observations, at Pulkova,
July 6th, aged sixty-four years ; John Hop-
kinson, an eminent British electrician, presi-
dent of the Institute of Electrical Engineers
in 1890 and 1896, killed with his three chil-
dren in an attempt to ascend the Dent de
Visivi, Alps, August 24th ; Dr. H. Trimble,
professor of practical chemistry in the
Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, and editor
of the American Journal of Pharmacy ; M.
de Windt, geologist of the Belgian Exploring
Expedition to the Congo, drowned in Lake
Tanganyika, Africa, August 9th ; Dr. Paul
Glan, assistant professor of physics in the
Univeisity of Berlin, aged fifty eight years;
Dr. E. J. Bonsdorf, formerly professor of
anatomy and physiology at Helsingfors, Fin-
land, aged eighty-eight years; Dr. Robert
Zimmerman, formerly professor of philoso-
phy in the University of Vienna, at Salzburg,
Austria, aged seventy-seven years ; M. J. M.
Moniz, known by his investigations of the
natural history of Madeira, at Madeira, July
11th, aged sixty-six years ; and M. Pomel, a
distinguished French mining engineer, pro-
fessor of geology and past director at the
Algiers Scientific School, and author of a
number of special works, at Oran, Algeria.

CHARLES II. HITCHCOCK.

APPLETONS'

POPULAR SCIENCE
MONTHLY.

DECEMBER, 1898.

THE WHEAT-GROWING CAPACITY OF THE UNITED

STATES.

By EDWAKD ATKINSON.

IN 1880 it happened to fall to me to make a forecast of the very
great reduction in the price of wheat in Great Britain, which
could then be predicated on the lessening cost of transportation from
Chicago to the seaboard, thence to British ports, which was then sure
to be soon followed by a large reduction in the railway charges for
bringing the wheat to Chicago from the other Western centers of
distribution. I then alleged that the time was not far off when,
even if the price of wheat in Mark Lane were reduced from the
then existing rate of fifty-two shillings per quarter to thirty-four
shillings, it would still yield as full a return to the Western farmer
as it had yielded in previous years at fifty shillings and upward.
This forecast attracted great attention, and has since been made the
subject of very much bitter controversy, especially since the fall in
prices was much more rapid than I then thought it could be, and
was carried to a much lower point than any one could have then
anticipated. It will be remarked that thirty-four shillings in Mark
Lane is at the rate of one dollar and three cents per bushel of sixty
pounds.

From time to time I have almost been forced to defend the
position then taken, notably when asked to appear before the Royal
Commission on Depression in Agriculture at one of their sessions,
where I was kept upon the stand for two full days in the effort of
the excellent English farmers and landowners to prove that the
American farmer had been ruined by the reduction in the price of
wheat, which the majority of that commission attributed to the

VOL. LIV. — 11

146 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

demonetization of silver. The whole tone of that investigation and
of a large part of the treatment of the wheat question in Great
Britain has been one of complaint and of alleged wrong to British
agriculture because the United States had succeeded in supplying
the masses of the people of the United Kingdom with cheap bread,
with sufficient profit to themselves to keep up the supply.

Now comes what may be called a cry of alarm from a scientist
of highest repute lest England may be deprived even of an adequate
supply of wheat, and lest the price should be forced to an exorbitant
point. This view of the case was stated at great length by Sir Wil-
liam Crookes when assuming the presidency of the British Associa-
tion for the Advancement of Science at the recent meeting in Bristol.
This address is published in full in the Times of September 8th, the
portion devoted to the wheat question filling three out of six columns
of closely printed text; the other three are devoted to a complete re-
view of the existing conditions of science. I venture to give a few
extracts which will convey to the reader the aspect of the wheat'
question from this essentially British point of view. Sir William
Crookes begins with a sort of apology, which the writer can fully
appreciate. He says:

" Statistics are rarely attractive to a listening audience, but they
are necessary evils, and those of this evening are unusually doleful.
... I am constrained to show that our wheat-producing soil is
totally unequal to the strain put upon it. After wearying you
with a survey of the universal dearth to be expected, I hope to
point a way out of the colossal dilemma. It is the chemist who
must come to the rescue of the threatened communities. It is
through the laboratory that starvation may ultimately be turned
into plenty."

One of the singular facts which becomes quickly apparent to any
one who deals with this subject in Great Britain is the inability of
the English farmer to think about agriculture except in terms of
wheat. JSTow we have an example of our English scientist of the
highest repute who seems to ignore all other grain and to predict
future starvation on an expected deficiency in the supply of
wheat. Sir William Crookes proceeds :

" The consumption of wheat per head of the population (unit con-
sumption) is over six bushels per annum; and, taking the popula-
tion at 40,000,000, we require no less than 240,000,000 bushels
of wheat, increasing annually by 2,000,000 bushels to supply the
increase of population. Of the total amount of wheat consumed
in the United Kingdom we grow twenty -five and import seventy-five
per cent."

He then deals with the impending scarcity, saying:

UNITED STATES' WHEAT-GROWING CAPACITY. 147

" To arrest this impending danger it has been proposed that an
amount of 64,000,000 bushels of wheat should be purchased by the
state and stored in national granaries, not to be opened except to
remedy deterioration of grain, or in view of national disaster ren-
dering starvation imminent. This 64,000,000 bushels would add
another fourteen weeks' life to the population."

After dealing with the fact that while it might be possible for
the United Kingdom to supply itself with its own wheat at an aver-
age of twenty-nine and a half bushels to the acre, he goes on to say
that this would require thirteen thousand square miles of British
territory, increasing at the rate of one hundred square miles per
annum; but he says it would be clearly impossible to assign so large
a proportion of the area of the United Kingdom to a single crop with-
out suffering in other matters, adding:

" In any case, owing to our cold, damp climate and capricious
weather, the wheat crop is hazardous, and for the present our annual
deficit of 180,000,000 bushels must be imported. A permanently
higher price for wheat is, I fear, a calamity that ere long must be
faced."

I can imagine with what a relish the Royal Commission on the
Depression of Agriculture would have received this prophecy of a
permanently higher price for wheat. Sir William Crookes goes on
to say:

" Wheat is the most sustaining food grain of the great Caucasian
race, which includes the peoples of Europe, United States, British
America, the white inhabitants of South Africa, Australasia, parts
of South America, and the white population of the European
colonies."

He then points out how rapidly the consumers of wheat have in-
creased, yet failing to attribute this increase in part to the rapid
reduction in the cost. He says:

" In 1871 the bread-eaters of the world numbered 371,000,000;
in 1881, 416,000,000; in 1891, 472,600,000; and at the present
+ ime they number 516,500,000. The augmentation of the world's
bread-eating population in a geometrical ratio is evidenced by the
fact that the yearly aggregates grow progressively larger. ... To
supply 516,500,000 bread-eaters, if each bread-eating unit is to have
his usual ration, will require a total of 2,324,000,000 bushels for seed
and food. According to the best authorities, the total supplies from
the 1897-'98 harvest are 1,921,000,000."

It will be observed that while the English average consumption
is said to be six bushels, the average employed in this computation
is four and a half bushels per head. He then remarks upon the
large harvests for seven years, saying :

148 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

" Bread-eaters have almost eaten up the reserves of wheat, and
the 1897 harvest being under average, the conditions become serious.
... It is clear we are confronted with a colossal problem that must
tax the wits of the wisest. Up to recent years the growth of wheat
has kept pace with demands. As wheat-eaters increased, the acreage
under wheat expanded. We forget that the wheat-growing area is
of strictly limited extent, and that a few million acres regularly ab-
sorbed soon amount to a formidable number. The present position
being so gloomy, let us consider future prospects."

He then deals successively with the United States, Russia,
Canada, and other countries. In regard to the United States he
remarks :

" Practically there remains no uncultivated prairie land in the
United States suitable for wheat-growing. The virgin land has been
rapidly absorbed, until at present there is no land left for wheat
without reducing the area for maize, hay, and other necessary crops.
It is almost certain that within a generation the ever-increas-
ing population of the United States will consume all the wheat
grown within its borders, and will be driven to import, and, like
ourselves, will scramble for a lion's share of the wheat crop of the
world."

It is difficult for a citizen of the United States who has given
any attention to the potential of our land to conceive of such views
being held by an Englishman of highest scientific intelligence.
When I was in England last summer I had a long interview with
the editor of one of the papers of widest influence in all Great
Britain. I then remarked that there were forces in action in the
United States in three or four different directions which would
profoundly change all the conditions of British industry, and ren-
der the English-speaking people of the United Kingdom and the
United States more and more interdependent. It is seldom that one
finds more than an occasional half a column in any great English
paper devoted to the subject of our economic relations and to the
development either of the American iron industry, of its agriculture,
or of the cotton production and manufacture. Yet, in all these
branches of industry, profound changes of world-wide importance,
and yet of greater importance to the people of Great Britain, are
now in progress. I may venture to say that this address of Sir
William Crookes marks even a more profound ignorance of the
forces in action in this country than even I had ever compre-
hended. Sir William Crookes next submits the following com-
putation :

" The rate of consumption for seed and food by the whole world
of bread-eaters was 4.15 bushels per unit per annum for the eight

UNITED STATES' WHEAT-GROWING CAPACITY. 149

years ending 1878, and at the present time is 4.5 bushels. . . .
Should all the wheat-growing countries add to their area to the
utmost capacity, on the most careful calculation the yield would give
us only an addition of some 100,000,000 acres, supplying at the aver-
age world yield of 12.7 bushels to the acre, 1,270,000,000 bushels,
just enough to supply the increase of population among bread-eaters
till the year 1931. At the present time there exists a deficit in the
wheat area of thirty-one thousand square miles. . . . When pro-
vision shall have been made if possible to feed 230,000,000 units
likely to be added to the bread-eating populations by 1931, by the
complete occupancy of the arable areas of the temperate zone now
partially occupied, where can be grown the additional 330,000,000
bushels of wheat required ten years later by a hungry world? If
bread fails — not only us, but all the bread-eaters of the world — what
are we to do? We are born wheat-eaters. Other races, vastly
superior to us in numbers, but differing widely in material and intel-
lectual progress, are eaters of Indian corn, rice, millet, and other
grains; but none of these grains have the food value, the concen-
trated health-sustaining power of wheat, and it is on this account
that the accumulated experience of civilized mankind has set wheat
apart as the fit and proper food for the development of muscle and
brains."

Sir William then proceeds to deal with the salvation by chem-
istry. But before taking notes from that part of his address, is it not
singular to remark this tendency of the scientist as well as of the
English farmer to think only in terms of wheat, wholly ignoring
other grains? It may be interesting to point out the exact difference
in the nutrients.

Wheat flour is analyzed in the following statement:

Water 11.6

Protein 11.1

Fats 1.1

Carbohydrates 75 . 6

Mineral matters 0.6

Total nutrients 88.4

Potential energy in one pound 1,660 calories.

Corn or maize meal differs only as follows:

Water 14.5

Protein 9.1

Fats 3.8

Carbohydrates VI .0

Mineral matters 1.6

Total nutrients 85.5

Potential energy in one pound 1,650 calories.

150 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Oatmeal:

Water 'J.'J

Protein 15.1

Fats „ 7.1

Carbohydrates 68.1

Mineral matters 2.0

Total nutrients 92.3

Potential energy in one pound 1,845 calories.

Eye flour:

Water 13.1

Protein 6.7

Fats 0.8

Carbohydrates 78 . 7

Mineral matters 0.7

Total nutrients 86.9

Potential energy in one pound 1,620 calories.

It will be remarked that the difference between maize meal and
wheat flour consists only in a slightly larger proportion of fats and
a slightly less proportion of protein, a matter very easily balanced by
giving consideration to the other kinds of food which may be used
by the bread-eater. Again, it is hardly to be supposed that the
Scotchmen who listened to Sir William Crookes admitted in their
minds that wheat flour possessed any greater potential energy in the
development either of muscle or of mind than the oatmeal to which
they have been habituated for so many generations. I doubt if any
New England Yankee who had been brought up on the diet of corn
(maize) bread and baked beans, the latter supplying the protein
element in abundance, would admit any greater development of the
muscle or brain by exclusive dependence on wheat for the bread of
life. It is not, however, my purpose to deal with the relative food
values of wheat and other grains; it is simply to take up this extraor-
dinary delusion of Sir William Crookes in respect to the potential
of the wheat-producing area of this country. His theory is salvation
by chemistry, and he rightfully calls attention to the necessity for
obtaining a cheap and abundant supply of nitrogen. All the other
elements for fertilizing the soil are relatively abundant at low cost,
especially in this country. Our enormous supply of the phosphates
of lime and potash gives assurance on this matter, and our one de-
ficiency, or rather the one element heretofore of high cost, has been
the necessary proportion of nitrogen required to maintain an even
balance in the soil.

I am surprised that Sir William Crookes should attribute so
little importance to the recent discovery of the influence of bacteria,
which living and dying in nodules attached to the stalks of the

UNITED STATES' WHEAT-GROWING CAPACITY. 151

leguminous plants dissociate the nitrogen of the atmosphere, where
the supply is unlimited, converting it to the nutrition of the plant,
and thence to the renovation of the soil. Sir William deals only
with the renovating qualities of clover, having apparently no com-
prehension of the existence of the cow-pea vine, the soya bean, the
alfalfa, and many other types of legumes by which the partially ex-
hausted soil, especially of the South, is now being renovated with
great rapidity at a low cost. Sir William's hopes of nitrogen seem to
be based on some method being found to save the sewage of cities,
but mainly on the conversion of the water power of Niagara and
other great falls to the generation of electricity and thence to the dis-
sociation of the nitrogen of the atmosphere.

The point to which I wish to direct attention and inquiry is this
alleged nearly complete taking up of the land of the United States
capable of producing wheat in paying quantities. The question
which Sir William Crookes puts is this : He says there is a deficit in
the wheat area of thirty-one thousand square miles which must be
converted to wheat-growing in order to keep up with the increas-
ing demand of the world to prevent wheat starvation in less than
one generation. It will be observed that the present necessities
of the world are computed by Sir William Crookes at 2,324,-
000,000 bushels, of which this country will supply 600,000,000 to
700,000,000 bushels from an area of land devoted to wheat of
71,000 square miles, a fraction over two per cent of the area of the
United States, omitting Alaska.

The problem may then be stated in these terms : Given a demand
of the wheat-consuming population of the world for this whole
supply of 2,324,000,000 bushels, this country could supply it at the
present average per acre by devoting two hundred and fifty thousand
square miles to this crop, or less than ten per cent of the area, omit-
ting Alaska. We could supply the world's present demand, but of
course such computations are purely speculative.

I venture to say that if a contract could be entered into by the
bread-eaters of the world with the farmers of the United States,
giving them an assurance of a price equal to one dollar a bushel in
London, or a fraction under thirty-three shillings per quarter of eight
bushels of sixty pounds each, which would yield to the American
farmer from sixty to eighty cents per bushel on the farm, the land
now under cultivation in wheat and not required for any other crop
or for pasture would be opened in the United States which would
be devoted to this service year by year as fast as the consumption
called for it. In fact, there are now fully one hundred thousand
square miles of land, 64,000,000 acres, fully suitable to the produc-
tion of wheat at fifteen bushels to the acre, practically unoccupied in

152 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

any branch of agriculture, which would be devoted to wheat on an
assured price of one dollar a bushel in Mark Lane, yielding 960,-
000,000 bushels. Or, to limit the question yet more: Sir William
Crookes states the needs of the people of the United Kingdom at the
present time to be 240,000,000 bushels, increasing at a rate of
less than two per cent per annum, of which twenty-five per cent is
derived from her own soil. If John Bull, in place of building
granaries, could offer thirty-three shillings a quarter, or one dol-
lar a bushel, in London as a permanent price for the next thirty
years, would not Uncle Sam accept the offer? and if Uncle Sam
should then ask for bids among the States, are there not several
single States or Territories that would take the contract each for
itself?

Having put that question, I now propose to submit an inquiry in
due form in order to sustain my own belief that we can supply the
whole present and the increasing demand of Great Britain for the
next thirty years with six bushels of wheat per head at a dollar a
bushel from land situated wholly in the Indian Territory, not yet
open to private entry, but which may soon be open when the Indian
titles have all been purchased. Or, again, I undertake to say that the
State of Texas can meet this whole demand without impairing in the
slightest degree its present products of grain, cotton, wool, and meats,
and without appropriating the use of more than a small fraction of
the area of that single State which has not yet been fenced in or sub-
jected to the plow to the production of wheat.

Perhaps it would be better to put a more simple proposition in
order to bring out what would be perfectly feasible. Let it be as-
sumed that the British public should really become so alarmed as to
be willing to put up the granaries which have been suggested for
storing fourteen weeks' consumption, or 64,000,000 bushels. That
would require a very large capital which would yield no income
on which there would be a heavy loss of interest and a considerable
risk of damage to the wheat during the period of storage. In place
of this a feasible plan would be to put up the capital which would
be required for building these granaries, invest it in consols, and
pledge it as collateral security for the fulfillment of a contract run-
ning for thirty years for the annual purchase of 10,000,000 bushels
of wheat per month, or say 128,000,000 bushels a year, or twice the
quantity proposed to be stored.

There are several large dealers in grain and provisions in the
United States who would" be ready to take this contract and to put up
a sufficient sum of capital invested in United States bonds to serve
as security for prompt delivery.

An assured supply of 128,000,000 bushels in addition to the

UNITED STATES' WHEAT-GROWING CAPACITY. 153

ordinary supply might allay the fear of scarcity and high price of
bread. It may here be observed that the low average crop per acre
of the United States has been due to the inclusion of wheat grown
on land partially exhausted by cropping or not Avell adapted to this
grain. The all-wheat as well as the all-cotton and all-tobacco
methods of ignorant farming or cropping year after year are now
very rapidly giving place to varied crops coupled with an increase of
product per acre. No agency has been of such service in this matter
as the Agricultural Experiment Stations, now established in almost
every State under the supervision of men of the highest capacity.
Under this system wheat, which requires a few days of machine work
in the spring and autumn, occupying very little time of the farmer
himself, is rapidly becoming the surplus or money crop of farms
otherwise maintained on the alternate products. Under such cultiva-
tion an average crop of twenty bushels to the acre would be assured,
in many sections much more. One hundred and twenty-eight mil-
lion bushels at twenty bushels per acre would require 6,400,000
acres, or ten thousand square miles. As an alternate with other
crops in a rotation of four, this would call for only forty thousand
square miles in varied farming. In order to satisfy the anxieties of
Sir William Crookes lest land should be taken from other necessary
work, this area might be divided among several States and Territories,
say five thousand square miles among eight. Oklahoma (38,719
square miles) was opened to settlement only seven years since, and
has yet a great deal of unoccupied land. It will this year raise
13,000,000 bushels of wheat from 850 square miles devoted to the
crop. Give Oklahoma five thousand square miles, the unoccupied
Indian Territory (30,272 square miles) would take all the rest as
soon as open; but we may only assign five thousand square miles to
that area. Five thousand more might be assigned to the limestone
section of Virginia, in the valley of the Shenandoah and its tribu-
taries; five thousand each to Kentucky (40,400 square miles) and
Tennessee (42,050 square miles), while the great wheat-growing
States — Kansas (82,080 square miles), Nebraska (77,510 square
miles), Minnesota (83,365 square miles), and the two Dakotas
(148,445 square miles) — would compete for the contract each to
open a little patch of five thousand square miles, not yet adjacent to
railways. We should thus have exhausted the area called for with-
out regard to the instant competition which would come from Cali-
fornia (158,360 square miles), Oregon (96,030 square miles), and
Washington (69,180 square miles), and probably from Pennsylvania
(45,215 square miles) and other Eastern or Southern States. At a
dollar per bushel in London no difficulty would be found in placing
this contract even without resort to Texas (265,780 square miles),

154 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

which could take the whole on but a small portion of its area not yet
under the plow.

The only additional measure which would then be required
would be one which must come in any event — namely, the neutrali-
zation of the ports of export and import of food in the United States
and Great Britain and in such other countries as may choose to join,
together with the neutralization of a ferry or sea way for the trans-
portation of the food, wherein no hostile shot should be fired and no
seizure of private property permitted on the part of any nation, the
condition of this understanding being that if any other nation ven-
tured to question or contest this dedication of a neutral way for the
conveyance of food to the purposes of peace, the navies of Great
Britain and of the United States would be united to force its accept-
ance, and to sweep from the ocean the fleet of every state or nation
which ventured to contest this measure. That would be a suitable
measure for beginning to make a right use of navies — for the protec-
tion of commerce and for the destruction of every fleet or vessel
which did not accept the principle that private property not con-
traband of war should be exempt from seizure upon the high seas,
coupled with a declaration limiting contraband of war so that it may
never be made to include customary articles of commerce, especially
food, not now contraband.

The foregoing text was set in type and one hundred advance
proof sheets were supplied, which have been sent by the writer to
the Secretaries of Agriculture and the chiefs of the Agricultural
Experiment Stations in all the States to which we look for any con-
siderable product of wheat. The replies are so complete and so
numerous as to make it impossible to incorporate a full digest of
the whole case within the limits of the present article. A sup-
plement will be prepared for a later number of this journal, in
which this information will be tabulated. For the present pur-
pose I may avail myself only of a part of the data which have been
sent to me.

1. The evidence suffices to prove that there is not a State named
above which could not set apart five thousand square miles for the
cultivation of wheat in a rotation of four without trenching in the
slightest degree upon any other crop. 2. In previous essays, in which
I have dealt with the potential of the agriculture of this country, I
have very guardedly computed but one half our total area of three
million square miles (omitting Alaska) as being arable land, suitable
for the plow. The returns now in my hands would render it suitable
to increase that area to two thirds, or two million square miles sub-
ject to cultivation. 3. The area now under the plow for the pro-

UNITED STATES' WHEAT-GROWING CAPACITY

1 55

duction of our principal crops for the year 1897 is given in the table
below. If miscellaneous crops be added to these principal crops, the
cultivated land of this country does not now exceed, and in fact does
not reach, twenty per cent of the arable land, while from the culti-
vated portion a progressive increase in product may be expected un-
der the impetus of improved methods of farming on lessening areas
in each farm.

Maize

Wheat

Oats

Barley ....

Rye

Buckwheat.

All grain.

Hay

Cotton

Acreage.

80,095,051

39,465,066

25,730,375

2,719,116

1,703,561

717,836

150,431,005
42,426,770
23,273,209

216,130,984

Yield.

Per acre.

23

8

13

4

27

2

24

5

16

1

20

9

1

43

Product.

Bushels.

1,902,967,933

530,149,168

698,767,809

66,685,127

27,363,324

14,997,451

3,240,930,812

60,664,876

8,532,705

Price.

Cents.
26.3
80.8
21.2
37.7
44.7
42.1

6.62

6.78

Value.

$501,072,952

'428,547,121

147,974,719

25,142,139

12,239,647

6,319,188

$1,121,295,766
401,390,728
291,811,564

$1,814,498,058

Maize 125,150 square miles ;

Wheat 61,660 " "

Oats 40,200 " "

Barley 4,250 " "

Rye 2,660 " "

Buckwheat 1,120 " "

235,040

Hay 66,290

Cotton 36,520

337,850

The area under wheat in 1897 was a fraction under forty million
acres, or a little less than sixty-two thousand square miles. The high
price secured for that crop has led to an increase in land under wheat
in 1898 to a fraction under seventy-one thousand square miles
(nine thousand square miles added), on which the largest crop ever
known has doubtless been raised, variously computed at the pres-
ent time from 620,000,000 to 700,000,000 bushels. The area
now under wheat is therefore less- than four per cent of our arable
land.

In order to develop our potential in wheat it will be best to limit
our present consideration to three States only — namely, Minnesota,
North and South Dakota — from which we derive the greater part of
our spring wheat. The area of these three States is two hundred and
thirty-two thousand square miles, disregarding fractions. The land
which is deemed to be suitable for wheat growing is estimated by the
officials from whom I have derived reports at one hundred and sixty

i 5 6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

thousand square miles. The crop of 1898 is computed at 190,000,-
000 bushels, a quantity sufficient to supply Great Britain with all
that she needs in addition to her domestic production. It has been
grown on an area of less than twenty thousand square miles, or upon
one eighth part of the land of these three States only; the rest of the
wheat land can be as surely and profitably devoted to the production
of wheat as that part already under that crop. The fact may be
recalled that the territory which now constitutes the two States of
North and South Dakota began to be computed separately from other
States only in 1880, when a little under 3,000,000 bushels were
credited to that territory. The minimum product of these two States
this year will be 100,000,000 bushels.

One of the authorities upon whom I rested for absolute informa-
tion is Mr. L. G. Powers, chief of the Bureau of Labor of the State
of Minnesota, in whose Annual Report for 1896 is the most exhaust-
ive study of the grain production of the Mississippi Valley that has
ever been made. I therefore do not hesitate to incorporate in this
article his comments upon the proof sheets sent to him:

" The probable product of wheat in a State like Minnesota, at
a fixed price, such as Mr. Atkinson mentions, can be estimated, even
approximately, only by taking account of a number of such factors
as the present actual and relative profit of the wheat farmer, and
the probable changes that will be made in the next few years in the
cost of cultivating wheat and of transporting it to London. A few of
the leading well-known facts relating to these subjects may with
profit be noted in this connection, and first a few words with refer-
ence to the profits of wheat raising in Minnesota.

" Whatever may be true of wheat raising in Europe, or in the
Atlantic coast States of America, it can be positively asserted that
the average profit of the Minnesota wheat grower has been steadily
though irregularly increasing since the admission of this State to
the Union in 1858. This is evidenced by the relative number and
amount of farm-mortgage foreclosures in the State, as a whole, and in
its several sections at the present time and in the past. Properly to
use those foreclosures as a measure of the increasing prosperity of the
Minnesota wheat farmer, two facts should be kept in mind. In
1880, and prior to that time, the industry of wheat growing was most
fully developed in those counties which now constitute the First
Congressional District. The farmers of those counties at that time
depended for their income largely upon their wheat crops. Later
they have adopted a highly diversified system of agriculture in which
wheat is only an incidental cash crop. The exclusive cultivation of
wheat now finds its seat in the counties composing the Seventh Con-
gressional District. The lands of this district are situated about two

UNITED STATES' WHEAT-GROWING CAPACITY. 157

hundred miles on an average farther from the markets of Europe
than those of the First District. Notwithstanding this fact and all
changes in the selling price of wheat, and all allied changes affecting
the wheat industry of the State, the farm-mortgage foreclosures in
the Seventh Dictrict in the five years ending with December, 1897,
were relatively twenty per cent less than they were in the First Dis-
trict in the five years 1880 to 1884, and were forty per cent less than
in the five years 1869 to 1873. To the extent represented by these
figures has the average cultivation of wheat as an exclusive crop be-
come more profitable in Minnesota than it was twenty, thirty, or
forty years ago. A much greater increase of farm prosperity has
taken place in those counties which have adopted a diversified system
of agriculture, and made wheat an incidental cash crop.

" The growing farm prosperity in Minnesota above noted finds
its highest development in the past five years, during which the sell-
ing price of wheat in London has averaged approximately one dollar
per bushel, or the amount called for by the conditions stated by Mr.
Atkinson. This increasing farm prosperity in Minnesota, which less-
ens the mortgage foreclosures of the exclusive wheat growers forty
per cent in thirty years, has been the main factor in the settlement
of Minnesota and the two Dakotas. It has caused the wheat grown
in the territory of these three States to increase from 10,000,000
bushels in 1867 to 190,000,000 bushels in 1898. With no added
profit in the business, the settlement of the vacant lands of these
States and those of Montana and of the British Northwest will move
on, and twenty-five years from now will find in the territory tributary
to Minneapolis and Duluth not less than 400,000,000 bushels of
wheat raised annually. Even then but a fraction of the possible
wheat lands of the great Northwest will be under the plow. If a
material increase should take place in the present average profits of
the Northwestern wheat grower, the imagination of man could hardly
picture the stimulus to wheat culture that would result.

" With a fixed price of one dollar per bushel in London, called
for by Mr. Atkinson's conditions, the American farmers can find in-
creased profit in two possible sources: decreased cost of transporta-
tion to London, and lessening cost^of wheat production in Minnesota.
A detailed analysis of the various charges that constitute the present
cost of transporting wheat from the Red River Valley of Minnesota,
the Dakotas, and of Manitoba to London gives reasonable assurance
of a reduction in the next few years of at least five and possibly seven
cents per bushel in such cost. Here is an almost certain addition, in
the next few years, of from five to seven cents a bushel to the profit
of American-grown wheat, providing only its average selling price
in London remains practically unchanged.

158 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

11 A careful study of farm methods among Minnesota farmers dis-
closes this fact : Some wheat growers, with the best farm machinery,
and employing the best methods of agriculture, make a profit in wheat
raising of from ten to fifteen cents a bushel more than do their
less intelligent and less progressive neighbors. Now, the tendency
in the State and throughout the Northwest is to bring, by education
and a general exchange of methods, the poorer farmers up to the
level of the best. This change is rapidly taking place. It will not
require fifteen years to realize its consummation. When the methods
and facilities of the average farmer are brought up to the level of the
best of the present time, this change, with the change above noted
in transportation charges, will add to the average profit of Minne-
sota farmers in growing wheat a total of not less than fifteen and
possibly of over twenty cents a bushel. Such a change would more
than double the existing net profit of the wheat grower in the North-
west. Could it be maintained for a series of years, as is presupposed
under Mr. Atkinson's supposition of London prices, it would furnish
such an incentive to wheat growing in Minnesota and the surround-
ing territory as has as yet never been experienced. A million families
of immigrants would pour into the great Northwest within the next
twenty to twenty-five years. They would take up all the existing
vacant lands of Minnesota and the Dakotas. The lands suitable for ir-
rigation in these States and in Montana would beset to growing wheat.
The wave of humanity anxious to raise wheat for a dollar a bushel in
London would sweep past the boundaries of the four States men-
tioned, and carry the cultivation of that cereal all over Manitoba,
Assiniboia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. In these four British prov-
inces and in the four American States, dollar wheat in London would
in twenty years open more acres of good land to wheat than are now
subject to the plow within their borders. Even then the beginning
only would have been made to the possibilities of wheat culture in
the British Northwest. Settlements would not have extended as far
north as St. Petersburg in Russia; neither would settlers have
trenched upon the lands with a climate as severe as that of the Rus-
sian metropolis.

" The foregoing is a brief statement of what dollar wheat in
London would do for one section of North America in stimulating
wheat cultivation. If that statement is based upon a true conception,
as the writer believes it is, of the possibilities of the American
Northwest, it demonstrates how impossible it will be to maintain
dollar wheat in London for any great length of time in the future.
It also shows that Mr. Atkinson is wrong in not asserting a sure con-
tinuation of that decline in wheat prices which he so fully predicted
in 1880."

UNITED STATES' WHEAT-GROWING CAPACITY. 159

Cost of Shipping Wheat per Bushel from Moorhead, an Inferior Point in Minnesota, to

Liverpool.

On Septem-
ber 17, 1888.

Rate, Moorhead to Duluth

Duluth elevator and inspection charges

Lake freight, Duluth to Buffalo

Elevator charges and commission at Buffalo
Canal freight, Buffalo to New York. . .
Elevator charges, etc., in New York. . .
Ocean freight, New York to Liverpool.

Totals

On May 27,

1898.

On July 9,
1898.

On August,
20, 1898.

Cts. per bu.
9.30

Cts. per bu.
9.30

Cts. per bu.
8.70

0.80

0.80

0.80

1.40

1.25

1.25

1.00

1.00

1.00

3.00

3.00

2.75

2.00

2.00

2.00

8.00

3.50

4.50

25.50

20.85

21.00

Ct». per bu.
8.70
0.80
1.75
1.00
2 . 50
2.00
6.00

22.75

General average, 22.525 cents per bushel.

It will be remarked that Mr. Powers says I am wrong in not
asserting a sure continuation of the decline in the price of wheat
which I predicted in 18 SO. In setting up one dollar a bushel in
London as the standard of this inquiry, I had no thought that our
farmers could be made happy for the next thirty years by any hope
of securing so high a price. In my predictions in 1880 I said that
the time was not then far off when the farmers of the Mississippi
Valley would secure as large a remuneration from their wheat at
thirty-four shillings per quarter in London as they had been gaining
from a previous average of fifty-two shillings. I might then have
fixed the lessened price at twenty-eight shillings, and at the present
time I have a greater expectation of a reduction in the price of wheat
in Mark Lane to less than twenty-eight shillings a quarter, or eighty-
five cents a bushel, than I had in 1880 that it would so soon reach
thirty-four shillings. I merely adopted a dollar a bushel as an arbi-
trary standard on which an abundant supply of bread at low cost
would be absolutely assured to the people of England.

In fact, as I stated before the Royal Commission on Depression of
Agriculture, it is not probable that a reduction in the price of wheat
to forty cents a bushel on "Western farms or sixty-five to seventy
cents a bushel in England would stop the growth of this grain,
although it might check an increase. When the price went
down to a very low point on the last excessive crop it is probable
that 100,000,000 bushels of wheat were fed to swine and to cattle.
It proved to make better pork and beef than maize or Indian corn,
and, as the price of meat did not decline in anything like the propor-
tion to the price of wheat, the farmers who thus fed their excess
secured a profit which the sale of the crude grain might not have
given.

In this comment Mr. Powers deals with the reduction in the
number of foreclosures in Minnesota. Attention should be called to

160 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

the fact that the United States census investigation for which a mil-
lion dollars was appropriated, for the purpose of recording farm mort-
gages in 1890, disclosed the fact that in the ten great grain-growing
States of the middle West two thirds of the farms were then free of
any mortgage of any kind, and were well stocked ; the incumbrance on
the remaining third being less than forty per cent of the computed
value of the mortgaged farms. Since that date several State investi-
gations have been made, leading to the conclusion that not exceeding
twenty per cent of the farms in these States are now under any in-
cumbrance of any kind. In the more prosperous parts of Minnesota
and other wheat sections since the substitution of intelligent and
varied agriculture for the single wheat crop, foreclosures have almost
ceased, such as do occur being attributed to special causes ; while such
is the abundance of capital accumulated in this section that the rates
of interest on safe investments, which but a few years since were near-
ly double those prevailing in the seaboard commercial cities, are now
about even. When certain causes lately produced a short stringency
in the money markets of the East, remittances were made from these
Western cities for investment in Eastern commercial paper.

In regard to wheat production at a fixed price in London, the
Commissioner of Agriculture and Labor of North Dakota remarks:
" Wheat at one dollar per bushel in London would net the North
Dakota farmer on the average about seventy-five cents per bushel on
the railroad track. At that price as a standard, every farmer in the
State would utilize all the land he has, and buy up more of the land
now lying idle and in the hands of speculators. It would increase
immigration so that nearly all the vacant Government land would be
taken up. We also have over one million acres of school and State
land, of which at least eighty per cent is suitable for raising wheat.
Such a price would give North Dakota a boom that never had its
equal."

A few words may be given to the report from Texas. The Sec-
retary of the Board of Agriculture states that " the area of arable
land of fair quality, including pasture that might be put under the
plow in this State, is two hundred thousand square miles; about one
hundred thousand square miles suitable for wheat and other grains
lying north of parallel 31°; about one hundred thousand square
miles lying south of that line adapted to cotton, sugar, fruits, and
vegetables of all kinds."

An unexpected reply comes from Idaho, as yet insignificant in
wheat production, stating that the potential of that State under the
conditions named might reach 400,000,000 bushels.

Again, from Arkansas, to which State we have looked more for
excellent cotton than for grain, " there are fifteen million acres of

UNITED STATES' WHEAT-GROWING CAPACITY. 161

good wheat land; wheat is fast becoming a cash crop, displacing cot-
ton — the capacity of a considerable part of the land at the beginning
being forty bushels to the acre, which, being much better than five-
cent cotton, is leading the farmers to take advantage of existing
prices."

Time has not sufficed since my questions were sent out for re-
plies to reach me from Oregon, Washington, and Montana, where the
potential in wheat production is probably equal to that of Minnesota,
North and South Dakota combined.

Sir William Crookes makes reference to the future necessity of
providing fertilizers, a matter to which the closest attention is now
being given by the cultivation of renovating crops. But regard must
be given to the fact that we have the most complete and adequate
supply of phosphate of lime and phosphate of potash in the vast de-
posits of bone or mineral phosphates of Tennessee, Kentucky, and
Florida, while again we may look to nitrate of soda as a very inex-
pensive source of nitrogen, of which the most adequate supply can be
assured at very low cost. Known methods are also being applied to
saving the enormous waste of nitrogen from our coke ovens and iron
furnaces.

I almost feel it right to apologize to Sir William Crookes for the
presentation of these facts. My function is that of the practical busi-
ness man who deals with these economic problems wholly from that
point of view, and not from the high standard of a complete mastery
of the physical sciences.

As I have stated, I happen to have dealt with this question several
times at meetings of the British Association for the Advancement of
Science, and in other ways in Great Britain as. well as in this country.
I deem it of the utmost importance at the present time that the
interdependence of the English-speaking people should be brought
into view in the mast conspicuous manner. In their relative pro-
duction and conditions the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland and the United States are the complement of each other.
Their mutual relation or interdependence is now being recognized,
and it can not be long before many of the legal obstructions to mutual
service will be removed. The people of this country are now passing
through a stage in their economic education closely corresponding
to that through which Great Britain passed between 1840 and 1856
under the wise leadership of Sir Robert Peel, Richard Cobden, and
William E. Gladstone. We move more quickly, not only in acts
but in ideas, than we did fifty years ago. The revolution of ideas
which has followed the revolution of institutions in the Southern
States has made the people of this country into one homogeneous
nation. A revolution of ideas in regard to the conditions of interna-

VOL. LIT. — 12

i6 2 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

tional commerce will presently bring the English-speaking people of
the world into one homogeneous body governed by the same common
law, the same common principles of action, and the same policy
in the collection of revenue. When thus united, there can be no com-
petition in the commerce of the world on the part of the continental
states of Europe under their present burdens — the blood tax of
standing armies and navies and the money tax of debts that can never
be paid. There have been within a few months two witnesses to the
growing influence and power of the English-speaking people when
united for the maintenance of commerce and for the conduct of the
works of peace, order, and industry: one is the warning of the
Chancellor of the Austrian Empire, calling upon the states of middle
Europe to unite their forces in order to remain capable of maintain-
ing government by privilege and taxation by force of arms; the other,
the recent manifesto of the enlightened ruler of Russia, calling upon
the states of continental Europe to disarm, lest they should hereafter
be incapable of competition with the English-speaking people of
the world when they become bound together by a union of mutual
service and by community of interest which without any formal
alliance will give to them the chief control in rendering service by the
exchange of product for product to all other states and nations, to the
mutual benefit of all who are thus joined in the bonds of peace.

On my visit to Russia last year, to meet the leading economists
and statisticians of Europe, it was stated to me by well-informed men
that a plan had been considered by several continental states in
the event of war to change the present international custom by mak-
ing food products contraband of war, the purpose being to cripple
England. To such desperate conditions have some of the European
states been brought under the burden of the policy of blood and iron.
My comment upon this insane proposal was that I hoped it might
become a matter of public discussion, since nothing could so surely
and quickly bring about a commercial union of the English-speaking-
people, to the end that, even if no other alliance were made, their
navies might at any moment be combined for the protection of their
commerce, and for the total cessation of any interference by war ves-
sels or privateers with their traffic.

The prime motive of this article is to remove from the minds of
our English friends many false impressions which I have constantly
met in my intercourse even among men who hold important posi-
tions, of which the address of Sir William Crookes is but an ex-
treme expression, and to bring into common view a comprehension
of the resources of this country and of the mutual dependence of the
United Kingdom and the United States in the supply and consump-
tion not only of wheat, but of all the other necessaries of life.

THE RACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE. 163

THE EACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE.

A SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY.

(Lowell Institute Lectures, 1896.)
By WILLIAM Z. RIPLEY, Ph. D.,

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ; LECTURER
IN ANTHROPO-GEOGRAPIIY AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY.

SUPPLEMENT.— THE JEWS*

SOCIAL solidarity, the clearest expression of which to-day is
nationality, is the resultant of a multitude of factors. Eoremost
among these stand unity of language, a common heritage of tradition
and belief, and the permanent occupation of a definite territory.
The first two are largely psychological in essence. The third, a
material circumstance, is necessary rather to insure the stability of
the others than for its own sake ; although, as we know, attachment to
the soil may in itself become a positive factor in patriotism. Two
European peoples alone are there which, although landless, have
succeeded, notwithstanding, in a maintenance of their social con-
sciousness, almost at the level of nationality. Both Gypsies and
Jews are men without a country. Of these, the latter offer perhaps
the most remarkable example, for the Gypsies have never disbanded
tribally. They still wander about eastern Europe and Asia Minor in
organized bands, after the fashion of the nomad peoples of the East.
The Jews, on the other hand, have maintained their solidarity in
all parts of the earth, even in individual isolation one from another.
They wander not gregariously in tribes, often not even in families.
Their seed is scattered like the plant spores of which the botanists
tell us; which, driven by wind or sea, independently travel thousands
of miles before striking root or becoming fecund. True, the Jews
bunch wherever possible. This is often a necessity imposed for self-
preservation; but in their enforced migrations their associations must
change kaleidoscopically from place to place. Not all has been said

* In the preparation of this article I have to acknowledge the courtesy of Mr. Joseph
Jacobs, of London, whose works in this line are accepted as an authority. In its illustra-
tion I have derived invaluable assistance from Dr. S. Weissenberg, of Elizabethgrad, Russia,
and Dr. L. Bertholon, of Tunis. Both these gentlemen have loaned me a large number of
original photographs of types from their respective countries. Dr. Bertholon has also
taken several especially for use in this way. The more general works upon which we have
relied are: R. Andree, Zur Volkskunde der Juden, Bielefeld, 1881; A. Leroy-Beaulieu,
Les Juifs et l'antisemitisme, Paris, 3e ed. 1893 ; and C. Lombroso, Gli Antisemitismo, Torino,
1894. For all other authorities to whom reference is made by name and year, consult our
comprehensive Bibliography of the Anthropology and Ethnology of Europe, in a forth-
coming Srecial Bulletin of the Boston Public Library. In its index under "Jews" and
"Semites" will be found an exhaustive list of authorities given chronologically.

164 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

even yet of the unique achievement of this landless people. That
the Jews have preserved their individuality despite all mutations of
environment goes without saying. They have done more. They
have accomplished this without absolute unity of language. Forced
of necessity to adopt the speech of their immediate neighbors, they
have only where congregated in sufficient numbers been able either
to preserve or to evolve a distinctive speech. In Spain and the
Balkan states they make use of Spanish; in Kussia and Poland they
speak a corrupt German; and in the interior of Morocco, Arabic.
Nevertheless, despite these discouragements of every kind, they still
constitute a distinctive social unit wherever they chance to be.

This social individuality of the Jews is of a peculiar sort. Be-
reft of linguistic and geographical support, it could not be political.
The nineteenth century, says Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu, is the age of
nationality; meaning obviously territorial nationality, the product
of contiguity, not birth. To this, he says, the Jew is indifferent,
typifying still the Oriental tribal idea. As a result he is out of
harmony with his environment. An element of dislike of a political
nature on the part of the Christian is added to the irreconcilability
of religious belief. It has ever been the Aryan versus the Semite
in religion throughout all history, as Kenan has observed; and to-
day it has also become the people versus the nation, as well as the
Jew versus the Christian. Granted that this political dissonance is
largely the fault of the Gentile, its existence must be acknowledged,
nevertheless.

How has this remarkable result been achieved? How, bereft of
two out of three of the essentials of nationality, has the Jew been
enabled to perpetuate his social consciousness? Is the superior force
of religion, perhaps abnormally developed, alone able to account for
it all? Is it a case of compensatory development, analogous in the
body to a loss of eyesight remedied through greater delicacy of finger
touch ? Or is there some hidden, some unsuspected factor, which has
contributed to this result? We have elsewhere shown that a fourth
element of social solidarity is sometimes, though rarely, found, in a
community of physical descent. That, in other words, to the ce-
menting bonds of speech, tradition, belief, and contiguity, is added
the element of physical brotherhood — that is to say, of race. Can it
be that herein is a partial explanation of the social individuality of
the Jewish people ? It is a question for the scientist alone. Race, as
we constantly maintain, despite the abuses of the word, really is to
be measured only by physical characteristics. The task before us is
to apply the criteria of anthropological science, therefore, to the
problems of Jewish derivation and descent. Only incidentally and
as matters of contributory interest shall we consider the views of

GEOGRAPHICAL
DI5TR1BUTIO/S

AFTER ANDUE ft'.

THE RACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE. 165

the linguists, the archaeologists, and the students of religious tradi-
tions. Our testimony is derived from facts of shape of head, color of
hair and eye, of stature, and the like. These alone are the data
indicative of racial descent. To these the geographer may add the
probabilities derived from present distribution in Europe. No more
do we need to settle the primary racial facts. Further speculations
concerning matters rather than men belong to the historian and the
philologist.

The number and geographical distribution of the chosen people
of Israel is of great significance in its bearing upon the question of
their origin.* While, owing to their fluid ubiquitousness, it is ex-
ceedingly difficult to enumerate them exactly, probability indicates
that there are to-day, the world over, between eight and nine million
Jews. Of these, six or seven million are inhabitants of Europe, the
remainder being sparsely scattered over the whole earth, from one
end to the other.

Their distribution in Europe, as our map opposite shows, is
exceedingly uneven. Fully one half of these descendants of Jacob
reside in Russia, there being four or five million Jews in that
country alone. Austria-Hungary stands next in order, with two
million odd souls. After these two there is a wide gap. No other
European country is comparable with them except it be Germany
and Roumania with their six or seven hundred thousand each. The
British Isles contain relatively few, possibly one hundred thousand,
these being principally in London. They are very rare in Scotland
and Ireland — only a thousand or fifteen hundred apiece. Hol-
land contains also about a hundred thousand, half of them in the
celebrated Ghetto at Amsterdam. Then follow France with eighty
thousand more or less, and Italy with perhaps two thirds as many.
From Scandinavia they have always been rigidly excluded, from
Sweden till the beginning and from Norway until nearly the middle
of this century. Spain, although we hear much of the Spanish Jew,
contains practically no indigenous Israelites. It is estimated that
there were once about a million there settled, but the persecutions of
the fifteenth century drove them forth all over Europe, largely to
the Balkan states and Africa. There are a good many along these
Mediterranean shores of Africa, principally in Morocco and Tripoli.

* Andree, 1881, pp. 194 et seq., with tables appended; Jacobs, 1886 a, p. 24; and quite
recently A. Leroy-Beaulieu, 1893, chapter i, are best on this. Tschubinsky, 18*7*7, gives
much detail at first hand on western Russia. In the Seventeenth Annual Report of the
Anglo-Jewish Association, London, 1888, is a convenient census, together with a map of
distribution for Europe. On America, no official data of any kind exist. The censuses
have never attempted an enumeration of the Jews. Schimmer's results from the census of
1880 in Austria-Hungary are given in Statistische Monatsschrift, vii, p. 489 et seq.

166 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

The number decreases as we approach Egypt and Palestine, the
ancient center of Jewish dispersion. As to America, it is estimated,
although we know nothing certainly, that there are about a half
million Jews scattered through our cities in the United States. New
York city, according to the last census, contained about eighty thou-
sand Poles and Russians, most of whom, it may be assumed, were
Jews. But they have come since in ever-increasing numbers, with
the great exodus from Russia, at the rate of scores of thousands
annually. A recent writer places their present number in New York
city at a quarter of a million. The British provinces, on the other
hand, do not seem to offer great attractions; as late as 1870, for
example, the census in Nova Scotia could not discover a solitary Jew.
A more suggestive index of the problems of Jewish distribution,
however, is offered in the ratio of the number of Jews to the entire
population. This is directly illustrated by our map. To be sure,
this represents the situation twenty years ago, but no great change
in relativity is to be suspected since that time. Even the wholesale
exodus from Russia of recent years has not yet drawn off any large
proportion of its vast body of population. Inspection of our map
shows that the relative frequency of Jews increases in proportion to
the progressive darkening of the tints. This brings out with startling
clearness the reason for the recent anti-Semitic uprisings in both
Russia, Austria, and the German Empire. A specific " center of
gravity " of the Jewish people, as Leroy-Beaulieu puts it, is at once
indicated in western Russia. The highest proportion, fifteen per
cent, more or less, appears, moreover, to be entirely restricted to the
Polish provinces, with the sole exception of the government of
Grodno. About this core lies a second zone, including the other
west Russian governments, as well as the province of Galicia in the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. Germany, as it appears, is sharply
divided from its eastern neighbors, all along the political frontier.
Not even its former Polish territory, Posen, is to-day relatively thick-
ly settled with Jews. Hostile legislation it is, beyond a doubt, which
so rigidly holds back the Jew from immigration along this line.
Anti-Semitismus is not, therefore, to-day to any great extent an up-
rising against an existing evil; rather does it appear to be a protest
against a future possibility. Germany shudders at the dark and
threatening cloud of population of the most ignorant and wretched
description which overhangs her eastern frontier. Berlin must not,
they say, be allowed to become a new Jerusalem for the horde of
Russian exiles. That also is our American problem. This great
Polish swamp of miserable human beings, terrific in its proportions,
threatens to drain itself off into our country as well, unless we re-
strict its ingress. As along the German frontier, so also toward the

THE RACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE. 167

east, it is curious to note how rapidly the percentage of Jews de-
creases as we pass over into Great Russia. The governments of St.
Petersburg, Novgorod, and Moscow have no greater Jewish contin-
gent of population than has France or Italy; their Jewish problem is
far less difficult than that of our own country is bound to be in the
future. This clearly defined eastern boundary of Judenthum is also
the product of prohibitive legislation. The Jews are by law confined
within certain provinces. A rigid law of settlement, intended to cir-
cumscribe their area of density closely, yields only to the persuasion
of bribery. Not Russia, then, but southwestern Russia alone, is
deeply concerned over the actual presence of this alien population.
And it is the Jewish element in this small section of the country
which constitutes such an industrial and social menace to the neigh-
boring empires of Germany and Austria. In the latter country the
Jews seem to be increasing in numbers almost four times as rapidly
as the native population. The more elastic boundaries of Jewish
density on the southeast, on the other hand, are indicative of the legis-
lative tolerance which the Israelites there enjoy. Wherever the bars
are lowered, there does this migratory human element at once
expand.

The peculiar problems of Jewish distribution are only half real-
ized until it is understood that, always and everywhere, the Israelites
constitute pre-eminently the town populations.* They are not
widely disseminated among the agricultural districts, but congre-
gate in the commercial centers. It is an unalterable characteristic of
this peculiar people. The Jew betrays an inherent dislike for hard
manual or outdoor labor, as for physical exercise or exertion in any
form. He prefers to live by brain, not brawn. Leroy-Beaulieu
seems to consider this as an acquired characteristic due to mediaeval
prohibition of land ownership or to confinement within the Ghetto.
To us it appears to be too constant a trait the world over to justify
such a hypothesis. Fully to appreciate, therefore, what the Jewish
question is in Polish Russia, we must always bear this fact in mind.
The result is that in many parts of Poland the Jews form an actual
majority of the population in the towns. This is the danger for Ger-
many also. Thus it is Berlin, not Prussia at large, which is threat-
ened with an overload of Jews from the country on the east.
This aggregation in urban centers becomes the more marked as the
relative frequency for the whole country lessens. Thus in Saxony,
which, being industrial, is not a favorite Jewish center, four fifths
of all the Jewish residents are found in Dresden and Leipsic alone. f
This is probably also the reason for the lessened frequency of Jews

* This is clearly shown by Schimmer in Statistische Monatsschrift, vii, pp. 489 et seq.
f See also map in Kettler, 1 880.

168 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

all through the Alpine highlands, especially in the Tyrol. These
districts are so essentially agricultural that few footholds for the
Jew are to be found.

A small secondary center of Jewish aggregation appears upon our
map to be manifested about Frankfort. It has a peculiar signifi-
cance. The Hebrew settlers in the Rhenish cities date from the third
century at least, having come there over the early trade routes from
the Mediterranean. Germany being divided politically, and Rus-
sia interdicting them from 1110, a specific center was established,
especially in Franconia, Frankfort being the focus of attraction.
Then came the fearful persecutions all over Europe, attendant upon
the religious fervor of the Crusades. The Polish kings, desiring to
encourage the growth of their city populations, offered the rights of
citizenship to all who would come, and an exodus in mass took place.
They seem to have been welcomed, till the proportions of the move-
ment became so great as to excite alarm. Its results appear upon our
map. Thus we know that many of the Jews of Poland came to Russia
as a troublesome legacy on the division of that kingdom. At the end
of the sixteenth century but three German cities remained open to
them — namely, Frankfort, "Worms, and Furth.* Yet it was obvious-
ly impossible to uproot them entirely. To their persistence in this
part of Germany is probably due the small secondary center of Jew-
ish distribution, which we have mentioned, indicated by the darker
tint about Frankfort, and including Alsace-Lorraine. Here is a
relative frequency, not even exceeded by Posen, although we gen-
erally conceive of this former Polish province as especially saturated
with Jews. It is the only vestige remaining to indicate what was
at one time the main focus of Jewish population in Europe. It
affords us a striking example of what legislation may accomplish
ethnically, when supplemented, or rather aggravated, by religious
and economic motives.

Does it accord with geographical probability to derive our large
dark area of present Jewish aggregation entirely from the small
secondary one about Frankfort, which, as we have just said, is the
relic of a mediaeval center of gravity? The question is a crucial one
for the alleged purity of the Russian Jew; for the longer his migra-
tions over the face of the map, the greater his chance of ethnic in-
termixture. A moot point among Jewish scholars is, as to the extent
of this exodus from Germany into Poland. Bershadski has done
much to show its real proportions in history. Talko-Hryncewicz f
and Weissenberg, % among anthropologists, seem to be inclined
to derive this great body of Polish Jews from Palestine by way

* .1. C. Majer (1862) ascribes the sho:tness of stature in Furth to this Jewish influence,
f 1892. \ 1895, p. 577.

THE RACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE. 169

of the Rhone-Rhine-Erankfort route. They are, no doubt, par-
tially in the right; but the mere geographer would rather be in-
clined to side with Jacques.* He doubts whether entirely artificial
causes, even mediaeval persecutions, would be quite competent for
so large a contract. There is certainly some truth in Harkavy's
theory, so obly championed by Ikof (1884), that a goodly propor-
tion of these Jews came into Poland by a direct route from the East.
Most Jewish scholars had placed their first appearance in southern
and eastern Russia, coming around the Black Sea, as early as the
eighth century. Ikof, however, finds them in the Caucasus and
Armenia one or two centuries before Christ. Then he follows them
around, reaching Ruthenia in the tenth and eleventh centuries, arriv-
ing in Poland from the twelfth to the fourteenth. The only diffi-
culty with this theory is, of course, that it leaves the language of
the Polish Jews out of consideration. This is, in both Poland and
Galicia, a corrupted form of German, which in itself would seem to
indicate a western origin. On the other hand, the probabilities,
judging from our graphic representation, would certainly empha-
size the theory of a more general eastern immigration directly from
Palestine north of the Black and Caspian Seas. The only remain-
ing mode of accounting for the large center of gravity in Russia is
to trace it to widespread conversions, as the historic one of the
Khozars. Whichever one of these theories be correct — and there is
probability of an equal division of truth among them all — enough
has been said to lead us geographically to suspect the alleged purity
of descent of the Ashkenazim Jew. Let us apply the tests of phys-
ical anthropology.

Stature. — A noted writer, speaking of the sons of Judah, ob-
serves : " It is the Ghetto which has produced the Jew and the Jewish
race; the Jew is a creation of the European middle ages; he is the
artificial product of hostile legislation." This statement is fully
authenticated by a peculiarity of the Israelites which is everywhere
noticeable. The European Jews are all undersized; not only this,
they are more often absolutely stunted. In London they are about
three inches shorter than the average for the city. "Whether they
were always so, as in the days when the Book of Numbers (xiii, 33)
described them " as grasshoppers in their own sight," as compared
with the Amorites, sons of Anak, we leave an open question. We are
certain, however, as to the modern Jew. He betrays a marked con-
stancy in Europe at the bodily height of about five feet four inches
(1.63 metre) for adult men. This, according to the data afforded
by measurements of our recruits during the civil war, is about the
average of American youth between the ages of fifteen and sixteen,

* 1891.

170 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

who have still three, almost four, inches more to grow. In Bosnia,
for example, where the natives range at about the American level — -
that is to say, among the very tallest in the world (1.72 metre) —
the Jews are nearly three inches and a half shorter on the average.*
If we turn to northern Italy, where Lombroso has recently in-
vestigated the matter, we apparently find the Jew somewhat bet-
ter favored by comparison. He is in Turin less than an inch in-
ferior to his Italian neighbors. But why? Xot because taller than
in the case of Bosnia, for his stature in both places is the same. The
difference decreases, not because the Jew in Piedmont is taller,
but solely because the north Italians are only of moderate height.
So it goes all over Austria and Bussia: the diminutiveness is plainly
apparent, f There is "in all Europe only a single exception to the
rule we have cited. Anutchin finds them in Odessa and Riga
slightly to exceed the Christians. In order to emphasize this point
it will repay us to consider the adopted fatherland of the Jews a
bit more in detail.

Our map herewith shows a general average of stature for Poland
by districts. This unhappy country appears to be populated by
the shortest human beings north of the Alps; it is almost the most
stunted in all Europe. The great majority of the districts, as our
map shows, are characterized by a population whose adult men
scarcely average five feet four inches (1.62 metre) in height. This
is more than half a head shorter than the type of the British Isles
or northern Germany. "What is the meaning of this? Is it entirely
the fault of the native Poles? We know that the northern Slavs are
all merely mediocre in stature. But this depression is too serious
to be accounted for in this way; and further analysis shows that
the defect is largely due to the presence of the vast horde of Jews,
whose physical peculiarity drags down the average for the entire
population. % This has been proved directly. Perhaps the deepest pit
in this great " misery spot," as we have termed such areas of dwarfed
population elsewhere, is in the capital city of Warsaw, where Elkind
found the average stature of two hundred male Jews to be less
than five feet three inches and a half (1.61 metre).* The women
were only four feet eleven inches tall on the average. Compare the
little series of maps given on pages 172 and 173 if further proof of this
national peculiarity be needed. Two of these, it will be observed, give

* Gluek, 1896; and Weisbach, 1877 and 1895 a.

f Majer and Kopernicki, 1877, p. 36, for Ruthenia; Stieda, 1883, p. 70; Anutchin,
• 1889, p. 114, etc.

% Zakrezewski, 1891, p. 38. In the October Monthly our stature map of all Russia brings
out the contrast very strongly.

* Centralblatt fur Anthropologic, iii, p. 66. Uke, cited by Andree, 1881, p. 32, agrees.

THE RACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE.

171

the average height of Jews and Poles respectively, dividing the city
into districts. The social status of these districts is shown npon our
third map. Comparison of these three brings out a very interesting
sociological fact, to which we have already called attention in our
earlier papers.* The stature of men depends in a goodly measure
upon their environment. In the wards of the city where prosperity
resides, the material well-being tends to produce a stature distinctly

(5FT5JN5)
Il65 M.

3TATURE
POLAND.

i 67 OI4- OBS ERVATIONS

AFTER ZAK.REZFWSKI'?!

Cracow

above that of the slums. In both cases, Poles and Jews are shortest
in the poorer sections of the city, dark tinted on the maps. The
correspondence is not exact, for the number of observations is rela-
tively small; but it indicates beyond a doubt a tendency commonly
noticeable in great cities. But to return to our direct comparison
of Poles and Jews; the deficiency of the latter, as a people, is per-
fectly apparent. The most highly favored Jewish population so- .

* Popular Science Monthly, vol. li, p. 20 et seq. (May, 1897), and vol. lii, p. 602 (March,
1898).

172

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

cially, in the whole city of Warsaw in fact, can not produce an aver-
age stature equal to that of the very poorest Poles; and this, too,
in the most miserable section of the capital city of one of the most
stunted countries in Europe.

We may assume it as proved, therefore, that the Jew is to-day a
very defective type in stature. He seems to be susceptible to favor-
able influences, however; for in London, the West End prosperous

AVEKMiEJSTATOKE
°F <JEW3-

WARSAW

lssspI.630~I.637M

-1.629 =5 ft 3.7 ins.
1 1 . 6 O - 1. 6 1 M. Aftfp ZAnuewskt 95

I5.R.

6S9 Observations.

Jews almost equal the English in height, while they at the same time
surpass their East End brethren by more than three inches.* In Rus-
sia also they become taller as a class wherever the life conditions
become less rigorously oppressive. They are taller in the fertile
Ukraine than in sterile Lithuania; they sometimes boast of a few
relatively tall men.f These facts all go to show that the Jew is
short, not by heredity, but by force of circumstances; and that
where he is given an even chance, he speedily recovers a part at least
of the ground lost during many ages of social persecution. Jacobs
mentions an interesting fact in this connection about his upper-class
English Jews. Close analysis of the data seems to show that, for
the present at least, their physical development has been stretched
nearly to the upper limit ; for even in individual cases the West End
Jews of London manifest an inability to surpass the height of five
feet nine inches. So many have been blessed by prosperity that
the average has nearly reached that of the English; but it is a mean
stature of which the very tall form no component part. Thus per-

* Jacobs, 1889, p. 81.

f Talko-Hryncewicz, 1892, pp. 7 and 58.

THE RACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE.

173

haps does the influence of heredity obstruct the temporary action
of environment.

Whether this short stature of the Jew is a case of an acquired
characteristic which has become hereditary, we are content to leave
an open question. All we can say is, that the modern Semites in
Arabia and Africa are all of goodly size, far above the Jewish aver-
age.* This would tend to make us think that the harsh experi-
ences of the past have subtracted several cubits from the stature
of the people of Israel. In self-defense it must be said that the
Christian is not entirely to blame for the physical disability. It is
largely to be ascribed to the custom of early marriages among them.
This has probably been an efficient cause of their present degener-
acy in Russia, where Tschubinsky describes its alarming prevalence.
Leroy-Beaulieu says that it is not at all uncommon to find the com-
bined age of husband and wife, or even of father and mother, to be
under thirty years. The Shadchan, or marriage broker, has undoubt-
edly been an enemy to the Jewish people within their own lines. In
the United States, where thev
are, on the other hand, on the

After Z^krez.ew5ki '95.

up grade socially, there are in-
dications that this age of mar-
riage is being postponed, per-
haps even unduly, f

A second indication in the
case of the Jew of uncommon-
ly hard usage in the past re-
mains to be mentioned. These
people are, anthropologically
as well as proverbially, nar-
row-chested and deficient in
lung capacity. Normally the
chest girth of a well-devel-
oped man ought to equal or
exceed one half his stature, yet
in the case of the Jews as a
class this is almost never the -
case. Majer and Kopernicki \ first established this in the case of the
Galician Jews. Stieda* gives additional testimony to the same effect.
Jacobs || shows the English Jews distinctly inferior to Christians in
lung capacity, which is generally an indication of vitality. In

WAR5AW.

ISR

Wealthy Quarter
Medium
Poor Quarter

* Collignon, 1887 a, pp. 211 and 326; and Bertholon, 1892, p. 41.

f Jacobs, 1891, p. 50, shows it to be less common in other parts of Europe. In the
United States, Dr. Billings finds the marriage rate to be only 7.4 per 1,000 — about one
third that of the Northeastern States. % 1877, p. 59. * 1883, p. 71. || 1889, p. 84.

!74

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Bosnia, Gliick * again refers to it as characteristic. Granted, with
Weissenberg,f that it is an acquired characteristic, the effect of
long-continued subjection to unfavorable sanitary and social en-
vironment, it has none the less become a hereditary trait; for not
even the perhaps relatively recent prosperity of Jacobs's West End
Jews has sufficed to bring them up to the level of their English
brethren in capacity of the lungs.

At this point a surprising fact confronts us. Despite the appear-
ances of physical degeneracy which we have noted, the Jew betrays
an absolutely unprecedented tenacity of life. It far exceeds, espe-
cially in the United States, that of any other known people.^: This
we may illustrate by the following example: Suppose two groups
of one hundred infants each, one Jewish, one of average American
parentage (Massachusetts), to be born on the same day. In spite of
all the disparity of social conditions in favor of the latter, the
chances, determined by statistical means, are that one half of the
Americans will die within forty-seven years; while the first half
of the Jews will not succumb to disease or accident before the ex-
piration of seventy-one years. The death rate is really but little
over half that of the average American population. This holds good
in infancy as in middle age. Lombroso has put it in another way.
Of one thousand Jews born, two hundred and seventeen die before
the age of seven years; while four hundred and fifty-three Christians
— more than twice as many — are likely to die within the same
period. This remarkable tenacity of life is well illustrated by the
following table from a most suggestive article by Hoffmann.* We
can not forbear from reproducing it in this place.

Death Raf(S per 1,000 Population in the Seventh, Tenth, and Thirt<cnlh Wards of New

York City, 1890, by Place of Birth.

Ages.

Total.

United States
(inc. tides col-
ored).

Ireland.

Germany.

Russia and

Poland

(mostlyjews)

Total

26 25

41.28

7.55

21 .64

104.72

45.18
62.25

9.43

25 . 92

1U5.96

36.04
40.71
15.15
39.51
120.92

22.14

30 38

7.14

21.20

88.51

16.71

15 to 25 vears

32.31
2.53

7.19

65 and under

84.51

From this table it appears, despite the extreme poverty of
the Russian and Polish Jews in the most densely crowded portions

* 1896, p. 591. f 1895, p. 374.

J On Jewish demography, consult the special appendix in Lombroso, 1874; Andieo,
1881, p. 70; Jacobs, 1891, p. 49. Dr. Billings, in Eleventh United States Census, 1890,
Bulletin No. 19, gives data for our country. On pathology, see Buschan, 1895.

* The Jew as a Life Risk. The Spectator (an actuarial journal) 1895, pp. 222-224,
and 233, 234). Lagneau, 1861, p. 411, speaks of a viability in Algeria even lower than,
that of the natives.

THE RACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE. i 75

of New York; despite the unsanitary tenements, the overcrowding,
the long hours in sweat shops; that nevertheless, a viability is mani-
fested which is simply unprecedented. Tailoring is one of the most
deadly occupations known; the Jews of New York are principally
engaged in this employment; and yet they contrive to live nearly
twice as long on the average as their neighbors, even those engaged
in the outdoor occupations.

Is this tenacity of life despite every possible antagonistic influ-
ence, an ethnic trait; or is it a result of peculiar customs and habits
of life? There is much which points to the latter conclusion as
the correct one. For example, analysis of the causes of mortality
shows an abnormally small proportion of deaths from consumption
and pneumonia, the dread diseases which, as we know, are respon-
sible for the largest proportion of deaths in our American popula-
tion. This immunity can best be ascribed to the excellent system
of meat inspection prescribed by the Mosaic laws. It is certainly
not a result of physical development, as we have just seen. Hoff-
mann cites authority showing that in London often as much as a
third of the meats offered for sale are rejected as unfit for consump-
tion by Jews. Is not this a cogent argument in favor of a more rigid
enforcement of our laws providing for the food inspection of the
poor?

A second cause conducive to longevity is the sobriety of the
Jew, and his disinclination toward excessive indulgence in alcoholic
liquors. Drunkenness among Jews is very rare. Temperate habits,
a frugal diet, with a very moderate use of spirits, render the propor-
tion of Bright's disease and affections of the liver comparatively
very small. In the infectious, diseases, on the other hand, diphtheria
and the fevers, no such immunity is betrayed. The long-current
opinion that the Jews were immune from cholera and the other pesti-
lences of the middle ages is not. to-day accepted. A third notable
reason for this low death rate is also, as Hoffmann observes, the
nature of the employment customary among Jews, which renders the
proportion of deaths from accidental causes exceedingly small. In
conclusion, it may be said that these people are prone to nervous and
mental disorders; insanity, in fact, is fearfully prevalent among
them. Lombroso asserts it to be four times as frequent among
Italian Jews as among Christians. This may possibly be a result
of close inbreeding in a country like Italy, where the Jewish com-
munities are small. It does not, however, seem to lead to suicide,
for this is extraordinarily rare among Jews, either from cowardice,
as Lombroso suggests; or more probably for the reason cited by Mor-
selli — namely, the greater force of religion and other steadying

moral factors.

[To be continued. ]

176 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

THE PLAYGROUNDS OF KUKAL AND SUBURBAN

SCHOOLS.

By ISABELLA G. OAKLEY.

~\T7~HILE the officers and friends of education in large cities are
* » exerting themselves to provide open-air playgrounds for the
schools, the villages and smaller towns all over the East are reversing
the case. Except in the small district schools, the children's play-
ground has almost ceased to exist.

This is an evil which has crept in with the tendency to cen-
tralize the schools. When in any place the schools begin to over-
flow, a movement to put up a larger building takes place, accom-
panied by an effort to create a high-school department; not so much
the need of the community as the ambitious dream of some principal
who would be superintendent, or some sort of central sun to a group
of satellites. This dream is too easily realized, because it flatters the
people. Then there rises a preposterous structure of stone and brick ;
a house of many gables, out of keeping with everything, either public
or private, in the place; a temple of vanity. Now is rung the knell of
the school playground, for the new " high school," although it will
house all the children from five to fifteen, must needs be surrounded
by a fine lawn, studded with shrubbery, and threaded by bluestone
roads. The janitor has to employ an assistant to keep the grounds
in order. A shut-in, penitentiarylike place has been evolved by the
architect and school committee, gratifying to their pride and a
deep wrong to the children. There are many wrongs about it; the
one insisted upon here is the abolishing of the recess, that time-
honored joy of the American schoolboy and schoolgirl.

The cheerful sounds of play no more re-echo; the little ones
march in " lock step " from the doors to the very curb of this im-
maculate ornate inclosure. If, on this beautiful lawn, any impulsive
youngster is caught running, or performing an instinctive hop-
scotch or leapfrog, he is sure to be seen by a watching and powerful
janitor and reported. Leapfrog and profanity, in the true Draconian
spirit, are alike visited with the extreme penalty of a visit to the
principal's office. However, in default of a playground, the new
schoolhouse provides a gymnasium for physical culture. I speak
now of a particular school, the pride of a simple village, and a type
of many. This gymnasium is a costly room filled with elaborate ap-
paratus, most of which is suited only to the high-school pupils, and
never touched by the majority, who leave school at twelve or thir-
teen; their physical exercises have been chiefly provided for by
a box of dumb-bells and wands. In many schools the " gym-

SCHOOL PLAYGROUNDS. 177

nasium " is a cavernous and ugly basement, a place full of shadows
cast by the gloomy arches on which the building rests, with walls
of brick and floors of asphalt. Little troops of silent, pale children
arrive and depart all day for their physical culture, a dreary repeti-
tion of silent dumb-bell exercises. There is no speech nor language
among them, no sound is heard but the jingle of the piano and the
sharp tones of the monitor's counting. I have never heard the chil-
dren count aloud or accompany the calisthenics by singing except in
a private school. What an alternative for a free recess! No peni-
tentiary drill could be more perfunctory, spiritless, dead. It must
be said of the public schools that the thing they most seem to dread is
the sound of a child's voice. The rude, untrained intonations, the
slovenly speech, the slouching attitude remain rude, slovenly, and
slouching, for all the school attempts to do for their improvement is
infinitely little. Even the blessed relief of shaking the arm and
hand to attract the teacher's attention has been reduced in some
schools to lifting two fingers.

The pupils generally hate their calisthenics, or, in the new phrase,
physical culture exercises. And they would hate just as sincerely
regulated games superintended by some impossible master of sports.
What they want is spontaneity in play. Public money is wasted in
providing these abhorrent alternatives. Poor little Carthusians as
young as six and seven years are kept in their rooms, and princi-
pally in their seats, above two hours at each session, and often after
that to atone for some delinquency, most likely for speaking. In
many schools they do not leave the room for any kind of exercise.
If they were capable of demanding their rights they would call for
both the abolition of the school lawn and calisthenic basement, and
the restoration of their playground and recess.

From the cruelty of this repression nature finds a little way
out; the children require of the neighbors what they have been
deprived of by the school committee. All around the precincts of
the temple of learning the trodden borders of the sidewalk, churned
to mire in winter and trampled to rock in summer, speak of the
victory of the boys. There are towns, perhaps, where they all go
straight home, but in our town- they gather four times a day in
knots of twenties and fifties for some kind of fun. The patient
neighbors go on removing coats and dinner pails from the pickets,
clearing away papers and missiles from their inclosures, yet I dis-
cover that even they would vote to keep the school lawn; it im-
proves the town. Very true. But ingenuity could well contrive
some way of uniting the playground and the school park. Spaces of
grass to rest the eye and decorate the square could be interspersed
with inclosures of asphalt, furnished with a few parallel bars

VOL. L1V. 13

178 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

and swings, without sacrifice of appearances. Often the school
property is so large that it could include half a dozen such
special playgrounds. We have but to begin it to find some feasi-
ble plan.

If the palatial school and its park is reaction against the " ragged
beggar " of Whittier's lovely poem, sunning in the midst of the
blackberry vines of Hardscrabble Hill, it is a reaction that has gone
too far to suit a generation which loves to read Hosea Bigelow:

" So the old schoobus is a place I choose
Afoi-e all others, ef I want to muse ;
I set down where I used to set, an 1 git
My boyhood back, an' better things with it —
Faith, Hope, an' sunthin', ef it isn't Cherrity,
It's want o' guile, an' thet's ez gret a rarity."

If it may be replied, that is not the generation for whom school-
houses are now built, it is one which may interpret the wants of
its children by just such recollections.

Another evil has grown out of the centralization of the schools.
The smaller schoolhouses formerly stood within convenient reach,
and by abandoning them we have forced many little children to walk
farther than they are able to walk. In the absence of street cars and
sidewalks this becomes a great hardship in extreme weather. In one
village in New York, out of an enrollment of fourteen hundred,
there was one month last year an average attendance of four hun-
dred. The new school building, which had cost seventy-five thou-
sand dollars, was more than two miles from some part of the district,
and there were no sidewalks; neither were there paved streets or
street lamps. In such circumstances a number of children are un-
able to get home to the noon meal, usually dinner, and most im-
portant. Where do they eat their luncheon ? In their seats, watched
by teachers, who are compelled unwillingly to take turns at this
duty, and who have also to eat a cold, unpalatable lunch in bad air
for a week at a time. After lunch there is an hour to be disposed of
by the children, but there is no place to play in except the base-
ment or the streets of the neighborhood. The teachers frequently
read them a story, that they may stretch their minds a little if not
their bodies. It is a painful sight — few more painful to me — to see
a crowd of young children having their recreation in one of these
basements. Running and loud talking are forbidden; a police of
teachers armed with symbols of authority and punishment keep the
restless little prisoners within bounds.

Another objection to the central school is the rainy-day half-
session. Though the daily instruction may be managed so that the
pupils do not miss anything, it is still a fact that the majority of

SCHOOL PLAYGROUNDS. 179

parents expect the school to take charge of their children, and are
often much dissatisfied to have them thrown back upon their own
hands on rainy days.

How has it come about that the playground and school recess
have been so generally given up? Is it altogether on account of
appearances? Teachers plead that the children ought to be pre-
served from association with objectionable playmates. This may do
for the touch-me-not, only child, but in American society it is never
a strong plea. That small fraction which seeks to educate its chil-
dren as a class can do so in a few schools limited to church, plutoc-
racy, Quakerism, or some such narrow basis. But the schools of a
free State are, above everything, founded on the essential equality of
individuals in the State, and the possibility of every one to rise to a
successful and honorable manhood. If there is one conviction above
another strengthened by experience, it is that, in their choice of
companions and susceptibility to influence, children are governed by
their innate qualities, and these qualities are fixed by heredity and
home influences long before the school age. In so large a com-
munity as a public school there is companionship for all, for it cer-
tainly represents the town itself. Let no one be afraid of the demo-
cratic instincts of childhood.

I believe the playground is abolished because it interferes with
that deadly order and craze for supervision which is sought for as
the prime condition both inside and outside the schools. Order
of a wholesome sort is not inconsistent with the free recess of a big
school. I watched in Los Angeles a great school as it was mar-
shaled out to play and back again at the sound of a drum. After
a quarter of an hour of unrestrained sport, several hundreds were
gathered in lines at the tap of the drum, facing the cheerful school-
house in the mild bright sun, their faces radiating contentment and
good will while they straightened up at the mere hint of the teachers
on duty. In San Francisco I once found a certain primary school
keeping doll's day, when every girl brought her doll to school and
exhibited her at recess. The school yard was a barren inclosure
within a high board fence, but a joyful place to that young company.
To what purpose are teachers urged to study psychology? The chil-
dren in their seats are emptied of everything that pertains to their
souls. Not to study, because the teacher will explain everything,
and to behave just well enough to get safe out of school, is the
simple code which covers the conduct of average children. To ex-
tend this code to ideas of social duty — the highest — is not possible
while they do not form a society. Cultivation of friendship is just
as much out of the case; awakening of ideals, an impossibility.
But thrown together half an hour or more each day, the dead ma-

180 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

chinery that pulls the bells and adds the marks within the school
walls gives way to life; and here a man who sympathizes with child-
hood has all the opportunity he needs, and probably much more than
he can use, in providing for that life where a code of reciprocity and
honor must be established. It is not as the magistrate he will success-
fully rule, but as the sympathetic general in the field, whose very
name is a talisman and an inspiration to every man. In the school
yard, the bully, who comes to the front in about every tenth child,
needs to be repressed; the foul mouth must be cleansed; against
these prevailing evils the playground has a protection the street can
not possess. The boy's world is a peculiar world, certainly, making
laws for itself as rigorous and about as barbarous as those of a gang
of pirates; but it is through his esprit du corps he can be uplifted
and educated; the individual may be a selfish animal; as one of a
body he is capable of heroism and devotion to a noble idea. He can
be a friend; the playground is the field for the natural growth of
friendships, and youth the generous time of their birth.

I recall another scene in a schoolroom in a Western city long ago.
A gentle girl, magnetic, deep-hearted, large-eyed, sat after school at
her table in tears. On a seat in front of her platform were piles of
slates which she had been correcting, for she instructed all day a
succession of arithmetic classes coming to her from the different
grades. At the same time she was in charge, for all particular pur-
poses of their order and conduct, of about forty boys in their early
teens. Her tears were in consequence of a quarrel at recess be-
tween two of her boys. ' They had settled their quarrel by a fight;
not unlikely it was a wholesome fight, for they were not boys of the
mean sort, and were friends. It is an affair of long ago, but of a
time when, in a large city, a teacher shed her influence upon the
school playground, and took account of its moral standards, its friend-
ships and breaches of friendship.

Although white men, if they take due precautions, may live and do
certain kinds of work in tropical Africa, it will never be possible, Mr. J.
Scott Keltie concludes from the results of past experience and study, to col-
onize that part of the world with people from the temperate zone. Even in
such favorable situations as Blantyre, a lofty region south of Lake Nyassa,
children can not be reared beyond a certain age, but must be sent home to
England ; otherwise they will degenerate physically and morally. A plan
has been proposed of bringing Europeans down into the tropical regions by
degrees, and acclimatizing them by successive generations to more and
more torrid conditions till they are finally settled in the heart of the con-
tinent. But the experiment would be a very long one, if tried ; and the
ultimate result would probably be a race deprived of all those characteris-
tics which have made Europe what it is.

UP THE S KEEN A RIVER. 181

UP THE SKEENA KIVEK TO THE HOME OF THE

TSIMSHIANS.*

By GEORGE A. DORSEY, Ph. D.,

FIELD COLUMBIAN MUSEUM, CHICAGO, ILL.

IN a recent number of the Monthly I described some of the in-
cidents of a visit to the Haida and Tlingit villages about Dixon's
Entrance; now I am to speak of the Tsimshian villages on the Skeena
River. The Tsimshian Indians are one of the five great stocks which
make up the aboriginal population of the coast of British Columbia
and southern Alaska. They are shut in by the Tlingits on the north
and by the Kwakiutls on the south, while on the head waters of the
Nass and Skeena Rivers they come in contact with the great Tinneh
or Athabascan stock. The Tsimshians are probably the most pro-
gressive of all the coast Indians, and are one of a few stocks on the
American continent which are holding their own in point of numbers.
Desiring to visit those villages which are least contaminated by
modern influence, we ascended the Skeena River to the village of
Kitanmaksh or Hazelton. The Skeena is the historic river of British
Columbia; its name signifies the " Water of Terrors." Nearly every
rock, every bend, every canon is the scene of some mythical tale.
The scene of the birth of the Tsimshian nation lies in its valley; the
rock is still revered upon which rested the Tsimshian ark after the
flood, and the " Dum-lak-an," " the new home and place of dispersal,"
is still a Mecca to which pilgrimages are made. In the modern de-
velopment of the Omenica and Cariboo gold fields the Skeena has
been the highway to the sea. For hundreds of years canoes have
been paddled up and down its waters; it has been the highway for
intertribal trade from time immemorial, and when the Hudson Bay
Company's post was established at Hazelton, and merchandise began
to pour into the upper country in a steady stream, the Tsimshians
with their canoes enjoyed for a long time a monopoly of the carrying
trade. Gradually, as they learned the ways and methods of the white
man, the price per ton of freight from the coast to Hazelton began
steadily to rise, until in 1891 the' tariff of sixty dollars a ton was de-
clared ruinous by the company, and they decided to build their own
steamer with which to carry their freight up the river.

Port Essington is the chief port of the mouth of the Skeena,
and in Essington we found ourselves on the twenty-third day
of July. The Caledonia was up the river on her third trip, but
was expected back any hour, but so delightfully uncertain is the river

* From a lecture delivered at the Field Columbian Museum, November 13, 1897.

182

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

voyage that, as we were informed, " there was no telling when she
would be down — in fact, she might be caught above the canon and
wouldn't be down for weeks."

The town of Essington dates back to 1835, when the Hudson
Bay Company established a post there. Its only rival for pre-
eminence on the coast is Port Simpson. The town in summer is
completely given over to fishing, the salmon cannery of Cunning-
ham & Son being one of the largest on the coast, and the river for
twenty miles is dotted with canneries. In one day, while we were

-k' r ' ..

View on the Upper Skeena River; Peak of the "Five Virgins" Mountain.

in Essington, the catch of salmon on the river was ninety-two thou-
sand fish. In addition to the cannery the town boasts of a good hotel
and a Salvation Army. An Indian Salvation Army is worth
going miles to see, for the Indian is a natural-born Salvationist; the
army permits him to make all the noise he chooses, sing as loudly as
he pleases, and, best of all, he is entitled to make a speech every
time it comes his turn.

In the afternoon, about four o'clock, on the day after our arrival,
a long, shrill blast of the whistle aroused the entire town, for the
Caledonia was in sight. Down we went to the wharf, and the entire
town followed. What a motley crowd you will find on one of these

UP THE S KEEN A RIVER. 183

British Columbia wharves ! What coloring, what a Babel of tongues
— Tlingits from Alaska, Haidas from the Queen Charlotte Islands,
Tsimshians from the Skeena, Kwakiutls from Vancouver, Chinamen,
Japanese, Greeks, Scandinavians, Englishmen, and Yankees; men,
women, children, dogs, and from two to six woolly bear cubs. The
Caledonia is the exclusive property of the Hudson Bay Company;
she is not a common carrier, and does not encourage either passengers
or freight, as the tariff rates prove. There is a feverish haste and
hustle about the movements of the steamer which are fairly con-
tagious. She makes her first trip early, in the spring, as soon as the
ice has left the rivers, on the Stickene; then it is a wild, eager
ambition of the company to have her make four trips up the Skeena
before the river closes up in the fall.

We had as passengers two prospectors from Spokane, a mining
expert from Victoria, a native evangelist from Essington, and about
fifty Indians, mostly women and children, each one with a varied
assortment of boxes, bales, bundles, and dogs; the crew numbered
twenty, and we had about one hundred tons of freight on board.

From Essington to Hazelton is one hundred and fifty-two miles,
a panorama of unending and unbroken beauty; never monotonous,
always interesting, it presents a river voyage which is probably not
equaled, certainly not excelled, by any other river voyage of the same
length on the American continent or in the world. We began the
voyage on Sunday morning, we tied up in front of Hazelton on
Saturday night. To recount in detail the haps and mishaps of each
day's progress would take more time than I can command. In one
day we made forty-eight miles, on another day we made one hundred
yards, on another day we didn't make a foot. With plenty of water
under her keel the Caledonia could run twenty miles an hour; she
could cut her way through a sand bar at the rate of a yard or so an
hour; and at either rate of progress she burned each hour from one
and a half to two cords of wood.

For the first ten miles the scenery does not differ materially from
that which we are accustomed to in the inland sea from Victoria to
Alaska. Then we enter fresh water and for the next forty miles
steam through one long mountain gorge, for here the river has cut
completely through the Cascade Range. The mountains begin at the
water's edge and rise almost perpendicularly to heights of from three
to four thousand feet. Their lower limits are covered with dense
green forests, which seem to grow out of the solid rock. The summits
are smooth and glistening, and often covered with snow and ice.
Here and there we can trace some tiny rivulet issuing from an ice
bed high up among the clouds, and every portion of its course can
be traced down the steep mountain wall until it gives one final and

i8 4 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

headlong plunge into the river. At times these streams, taking their
rise in some extensive glacier, are of considerable magnitude, and
fairly roar as they leap and hurl themselves downward from their
dizzy height. And here we learned a curious fact about the river:
in summer it falls when it rains, and rises when the sun shines, so
rapidly do the pent-up snows of winter disappear and rush down the
mountain sides under the heat of the spring sun.

Until noon of the second day we had been making good time,
but now the fun began, for we had left deep water and had arrived
at the first flight of the eight-hundred-foot stairway which the Cale-
donia had to climb ere Hazelton could be reached. The river had
been gradually widening as one island after another had been passed,
until now it was nearly half a mile wide and flowed through four
channels. The captain attempted one channel, but we couldn't gain
an inch, and in drifting back again down the rapids the current car-
ried the boat against the rocks and, with a crash and a lurch, but
minus some woodwork, she was in the stream again. Then two
other channels were tried, but without avail, although the wheel was
throwing water and gravel over the pilot house. The fourth channel
was next tried, but the current was too strong. Then we " lined her
out," and this novel method of getting a huge steamboat up a stream
soon became only too commonplace. The method of procedure is
this : The boat is forced against a sand bar and allowed to rest while
men go forward in a skiff with a long four-inch cable, which is made
fast to a tree on the bank or to a " dead man," a long spar buried
deep in the earth of a sand bar and heaped over with bowlders.
When all is ready, the boat is attached to the capstan and the wheel
begins to revolve. It is tedious work and often provoking, as when
the cable parts, or the " dead man " gives up his hold, and the whole
work must be done over again. The boat quivers from stem to stern,
and the wheel, with all possible steam on, is simply one revolving-
ball of water. We fairly hold our breath as we listen to the dull
vibration of the boat, the rumbling of the capstan, and the grating-
sound of the keel of the steamer as she is being dragged through the
rapids over the bar; but above all can be heard the voice of Cap-
tain Bonser as he shouts to his Indian pilot, " Go 'head capstan,"
" Stop steamboat," " Stop capstan," "Go 'head steamboat," "Go 'head
capstan! " In four hours we have made about fifty yards, but we
are in open water again and the boat settles down to its regular chug,
chug, chug.

Eighty miles from Essington the Skeena in its flight to the sea
makes its first plunge into the Cascade Mountains, and its entrance is
indescribably grand. No pen or brush can do justice to the beau-
ties of the Kitselas Canon. At its mouth we are in a broad,

UP THE S KEEN A RIVER.

185

deep basin, as if the river had felt depressed as it passed through
the quarter-mile narrow gorge and had here spread itself out to
breathe and rest before it started anew its downward journey to the
sea. It was late in the afternoon, and the western sun threw long
shadows of the lofty sky-crowned perpendicular walls of the left-
hand side of the canon over against the rocky islets and ragged, rock-
bound eastern shore. Once we have entered, there is no faltering;
" lining it out " is impossible here, and on and on the boat labors

A Skeena River Salmon Cannery.

and climbs, twisting and turning through the narrow, tortuous chan-
nel. A quick eye and a steady nerve must command the wheel now,
for a turn too much or too little would be fatal. One instinctively
feels that the " Water of Terrors " is the proper name for this river,
and with that feeling comes the -other — that it was never intended
for navigation.

After four days' grinding over sand bars and pounding against
rocks we tie up for repairs. One of the boilers had sprung a leak
which could be neglected no longer. The delay of thirty-six hours
was not without compensation, for the country about was open, and
proved a relief after the long ride through the high-walled river from
the sea to the canon. The banks were low or moderately high and
of gravel or sand bluffs, and we could look off over a landscape

186 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

broken here and there by solitary peaks or clustered mountains, their
summits always covered with ice and snow. To the far east were the
pure white peaks of the Five Virgins, their summits glistening under
the bright sun. Even the character of the vegetation had changed,
and the dense forests of somber firs, spruces, and cedars of the lower
river had given way to great cottonwoods and underbrush of hazel
and alder.

In the afternoon we climbed a bluff near the river, from which
we could look off over a country that was wild and extremely
picturesque. To one side of us could be seen a great moun-
tain, its summit covered by a mighty glacier whose blue-white ice
gleamed and glistened in the sun. And there was no mistaking the
power of the sun that day; its warm rays being especially welcome
after some weeks of the cold, depressing gloom and fog of the coast.

We were now really in the country of the Tsimshians, and every
few hours we drew up in front of some quiet, peaceful village, its
almost deserted cottages guarded by the totem poles of former days.
In succession we pass Meamskinesht, Kitwangah, and Kitzegukla,
with now and then a small salmon-fishing station. The villages
proved disappointing both in their smallness and modernness, and
none of them seemed worthy of any extended visit. From time to
time we passed great black patches in the forest, the result of ex-
tensive fires, sure signs that the rainy coast was far away.

On Friday night we tied up to the bank within five miles of our
destination, but we had yet to pass Macintosh's Bar. That was ac-
complished on the following day, after eleven hours' hard work, and
by five o'clock we had reached " The Forks," or the junction of
the Skeena and Bulkley Rivers. Our course was to the left, up the
Skeena for half a mile, and in a few moments more we tied up in
front of the stockaded post of the Hudson Bay Company; we had
reached Hazelton. The region about us was " Dum-lak-an," " what
will be a good place," the home of the Tsimshians.

Before 1870 the town was farther down the river, on the flat at
the junction of the Bulkley and Skeena Rivers. It has had addi-
tions to its population from Kis-pi-yeoux, and from villages down
the river. There are also to be numbered among the inhabitants the
Indian agent, Mr. Loring, the Hudson Bay representative, Mr. Sar-
gent, and his assistants, and Mr. Fields, the missionary. The Indian
population numbers about two hundred and seventy-five. The town
occupies a low, uneven plain, which, beginning at the water's edge,
extends back for a quarter of a mile, where it is hemmed in by a high
bluff on the face of the second river terrace. There are but few of
the old houses left and still fewer totem poles, and they are without
particular interest. Most prominent in the village is the warlike

UP THE S KEEN A RIVER.

187

stockade of the company's post, with its two bastions at opposite
corners, and the blockhouse in the center of the inclosure, but now
hidden by the store which stands in front of it. The stockade was
put up in 1891, when an Indian uprising was feared throughout the
length of the river.

Wherever you find a trading post and a missionary you can not
hope to find people who retain much of their native life or who
are of great value to anthropology. But still Hazelton was sufficient-
ly primitive to be of interest in many respects. In matters of dress
the Indians are almost on a footing with the whites, but they still
make a curious garment for winter's use which is worn by nearly all
of the interior tribes. This is a blanket made out of long, narrow
strips of rabbit hide, and is warm, heavy, and extremely durable.
We were fortunate enough to find a woman who was engaged in

Tsimsiiian Shaman's Ceremonial Bow and Arrow.

making one of these curious garments on a most rude and primitive
loom. Other garments are still occasionally made of Indian hemp,
which grows wild and in abundance. This is beaten and pounded
and then spun into fine thread, and woven into the desired form.

In former days the Indians used large quantities of the wool
of the mountain sheep in making the beautiful chilcat blankets
that formed an important part of the chief's costume, but now
the Indians buy most of their wool. Its chief uses are for
sashes and belts, which are still worn and made after the fashion
of former days. Of other garments of daily use, except moc-
casins, there is nothing remaining. There are a few remnants
of ceremonial costumes still in existence, and by a bit of good fortune
we were enabled to secure the complete paraphernalia of a shaman,
or Indian doctor, who had only recently renounced his native prac-
tices and joined Mr. Fields's band of Christians. In the outfit thus
acquired were rattles, charms, blankets, masks, and headdresses of
various kinds. From another individual we secured the complete
costume of a member of the fraternity, or secret society, of Dog
Eaters. The Tsimshians have four such societies, and the Dog
Eaters stand third in rank, being surpassed only by the Man Eaters

188 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

or Cannibal Society. The chief object of this outfit, apart from the
white and red cedar bark rings, was a long club, one side of which
was ornamented by a fringe of red cedar tassels. Of interest also
was the curious cap made of plaited bands of red cedar bark, and so
ornamented as to represent the head of the owl. Another object
secured from a shaman was a peculiar bow and arrow. These were
purely ceremonials, and were only used in the dances of the secret
societies. By an ingenious device the point of the arrow could be
opened out, and in this position represented the open jaws of a ser-
pent. On the bow were two fins, that could be lowered or raised at
will by means of cords, which represented the fin-back whale. The
bow itself is of light soft wood, and is bent by means of a string pass-
ing around the operator's body, the two ends of the bow being
fastened to the body of the bow by leather hinges.

In all the ceremonies, both religious and civil, an important part
of the costume is the mask. These are generally of wood, and por-
tray all manner of real and fanciful personages. Some of them are
wonders of ingenuity, being so constructed that the eyes, mouth, and
often the ears can be moved at the will of the wearer. Some of
them are even double, and so arranged that by drawing open the
outer mask, an inner one of an entirely different character can be
revealed. One of the rarest masks which was ever brought out of
the Tsimshian country is one in the possession of the museum, which
was acquired some time ago. It is of bone and finely carved, while
the teeth and tusks are those of animals.

Hazelton is of much interest to the observer of the human coun-
tenance, for, while the residents of the town are Tsimshians, there is
a village near by on the Bulkley River, the people of which belong to
the great Tinneh or Athabascan stock, which extends from the Arctic
Circle on the north to the Territories of Arizona and New Mexico on
the south, where it is represented by the Apaches. In some respects
the differences between the Tsimshians and Tinnehs, or Howgelgaits,
as this branch is called, are quite marked, and these differences stand
out in greater relief because more or less of the population of Howgel-
gait spend a part of their time in Hazelton, and so one sees represent-
atives of the two stocks in close contact. The Tsimshians, like the
Haidas, are great canoe people, and are rather short-legged, with great
development of the chest and shoulders. Like the Haidas, also,
they have strong, long arms, which bespeak familiarity with the
paddle. The Howgelgaits, on the other hand, are a pure moun-
taineer people, and are tall, robust, and finely proportioned. Their
hair is black, coarse, and abundant. The eyebrows are thick and
remarkably wide at the outer side. This same peculiarity may be
observed in the masks of this tribe. The beard is sparse, but it must

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be remembered that the hair is generally pulled out as it appears,
particularly on the cheeks, while the mustache and the chin tuft
are allowed to grow. Among the Tsimshians the face is wide and
the cheek bones are prominent. The nose is narrow, with a depressed
root. Neither the Tsimshians nor Tinneh practice artificial deforma-
tion of the head. With the Tinneh, or more exactly the Howgelgaits,
the forehead is broad and less receding than is usual with the Ameri-
can aborigines. The face is full and broad and the cheek bones
prominent, but the nose, unlike that of the Tsimshians, is well formed
and generally aquiline, although occasionally it is thick and flat-
fish. Their lips are also thick and the chin is more prominent than
is usual among the Tsimshians. The eyes are large and of a deep
black color; the jaws are generally very heavy and massive.

Of traces of the ancient prevalent fashion in deformity we saw
very little. One old woman still retained the labret, but it was only
a shadow of the former labrets in size. Although the long, finely
polished bone ornament which the men formerly wore in a hole
through the septum of the nose has entirely disappeared, we saw a
few old men in whom the pierced septum was still plainly visible.
With the Howgelgaits it was formerly the custom to load down the
ears with highly polished bits of abalone shells, which were suspended
by means of brass rings inserted into holes one above the other on
the outer margin of the ear, extending from the lobe around the
entire helix.

Hazelton's " City of the Dead " stands on a high bluff overlook-
ing the town and valley, and commands a view off over the broken
forest-clad country which is as beautiful as well could be. A trail
winds along the face of the bluff until the crest of the plateau is
reached, where it divides into a right and left path leading through
the main street of the silent city. The sight is strangely odd and pic-
turesque. Over each grave has been erected a neat little frame house,
often of considerable dimensions. All are painted with bright colors,
and the effect is decidedly " mixed." In one of the houses, which was
substantially built and neatly carpeted, I saw through a glass window
two chairs, a washstand with full assortment of toilet articles, and an
umbrella, while at the rear of the house stood a table on which was
spread a neat cloth, and on the table was a lamp. On the floor was
a new pair of shoes. Over the table hung a large crayon portrait of
the departed occupant of the grave beneath.

In another house I saw chests of clothing, and suspended from a
cord were garments of various kinds, including a complete costume
of the fraternity of the Dog Eaters. These five-feet-deep graves cov-
ered by little houses are not the usual manner of burial with the
Tsimshians, for until within a very few years the dead were ere-

UP THE S KEEN A RIVER. i 9 i

mated. Even to-day in the neighboring village of Kispiyeoux the
dead are buried in shallow graves just in front of the house.

Of the many charming spots about Hazelton which are well
worthy of a visit, we had time for only one — a horseback ride to
the Howgelgait Canon. The ride was most enjoyable in every re-
spect. The road leads from the town up over the plateau through
the burying ground, and then on through a partly cleared forest of
cottonwoods and maples. Then we plunge into a two-mile-long lane,
the trail scarcely wide enough to admit of the passing of a horse,
through a dense grove of hazel bushes, laden to their tips with unripe
nuts still protected by their green fuzzy envelopes; and now we
knew whence came the name " Hazelton." Suddenly the grove ter-
minates, and after dismounting and walking forward a few steps we
came to the face of the canon. "What a sight ! On the opposite cliff,
but on a higher level, stands the old deserted village of Howgelgait,
with its great empty houses and skeleton totem poles. At our feet,
down a sheer precipice almost a thousand feet below, the Bulkley
River, set on edge, rushes and roars and foams through the rocky
gorge to join the Skeena a mile away. Just by the mouth of the '
canon, at the edge of the great whirlpool, and on a gravelly beach,
stands the present town of Howgelgait. Hearing shouts, we looked
closer, and far down we saw men moving about, their forms dwarfed
to almost spiderlike dimensions. They were building a swinging
bridge over the river, and the timbers already in place looked like
the meshes of a spider's web.

Looking up the canon, we could see from the opposite wall near
the water's edge, and far below us, a rude scaffolding suspended by
bark ropes over the river, and from this Indians were lowering their
nets and drawing up salmon. One man after another would leave
for his home, his back bending under the weight of many fish, his
place to be taken by another, who begins casting his nets. And so
these rude scaffoldings here and all along the rivers are occupied by
busy fishermen throughout the summer, for salmon is chief of the
winter's food supply of these people. In one house we saw over a
thousand salmon hung up to dry for use during the winter months.

We left the canon for the ride back to Hazelton with keen regret,
for no more fascinating spot did we find on our entire journey than
right here. On the way we encountered a woman of the Carrier tribe
of the Tinnehs from Frazer's Lake, who was returning from Hazelton
laden with provisions and cheap calicoes.

"We had scarcely entered Hazelton when the tinkling of the bell
of the " lead horse " announced the arrival of the pack train.
Second only in importance to the arrival of the Caledonia to the
people of Hazelton is the arrival of the pack train, for it brings the

1Q2

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

news of the far interior. But of much greater importance and value
is the cargo of furs which are brought out on every trip in exchange
for supplies which are taken in. On that day there were fifty-seven
mules, each laden with two bales of furs weighing two hundred and
fifty pounds, and including beaver, mink, otter, sable, and bear, all
destined for the Hudson Bay Company's house in London, there to

Hagivilgait Canon, with Indian Fish Weirs at Bottom.

be auctioned off in lots to the highest bidder, and then to be dis-
tributed to all parts of the civilized world.

Within less than an hour's time the precious furs were aboard,
and we bade farewell to Hazelton. The Caledonia drops back, is
slowly turned around by the current, and with its steady chug, chug,
we began our journey down the river, the power of the boat aided by
the swiftly flowing water carrying us along at a rapid rate. If the
slow, labored up journey was a revelation with its worries and anxi-
eties, what can be said of the down journey with its kaleidoscopic;
panorama of sand bars, Indian villages, far-away snowy mountains,
-dense forests of mighty cottonwoods, lofty heights which tower above
us clad to their very summits with eternal green, mountain streams,
.and innumerable waterfalls and cascades! And what shall one say

LIGHT AND VEGETATION. 193

of that memorable ride through the carion, the wheel reversed and
throwing water over the pilot house, the boat rocking and swaying
to and fro! Before we were fairly aware of the fact we were out
into that great, deep, silent basin again and off on the home stretch.
Apart from taking on wood and stopping at one or two Indian vil-
lages, a delay of a few hours was made to permit some mining en-
gineers to examine a mine. They had just come up from the coast
and brought with them news of the gold excitement in the Yukon
Valley, and now for the first time we heard that magic word " Klon-
dike," which was soon to " electrify the world and put the gold fields
of California, South Africa, and Australia to shame."

At nine o'clock we were in Essington once more. " Klondike,
Klondike! " on every side. The whole country seemed to have gone
daft. One steamer after another went racing by the mouth of the
Skeena on the way to Dyea and the Skagway Trail. But our for-
tunes lay in the other direction, and that night we were aboard the
Islander, bound for Victoria and the south.

+t»

LIGHT AND VEGETATION".

By D. T. MACDOUGAL, Ph.D.,

PROFESSOR IN CHARGE OF PLANT PHYSIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA.

LIGHT is the most important of all the external agencies which
influence the vegetal organism, and the sun's rays have been
the most potent force in shaping the development of existent plant
forms.

The sunbeam stands in a manifold relation to the plant. First
and foremost, light is the universal source of energy, by the aid of
which the chlorophyll apparatus in green leaves builds up complex
food substances from simple compounds obtained from the soil and
air, a process necessary for the nutrition of the entire living world.
Some obscure organisms, such as the " nitrosomonas," soil bacteria,
are able to accomplish the construction of complex substances, by
means of energy derived from other chemical compounds, which
were, however, formed originally by green plants. These food-
building processes are designated as photosynthesis, chemosynthesis,
electrosyn thesis, thermosynthesis, etc., according to the source of
energy used.

By photosynthesis, carbon dioxide from the air and water from
the cell are combined in the green cells of leaves, forming sugar and
possibly other substances. During this process an amount of oxy-
gen approximately equal to that of the carbon dioxide taken up is ex-

VOL. LIV. — 14

i 9 4 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

lialed. It will be of interest to note the relation of the living
world to the atmosphere. Eight hundred to nine hundred grammes
of carbon dioxide are produced in the respiration of a single
person for a day, and the entire product of the human race for
this period is twelve hundred million kilogrammes. In addition,
large quantities of the gas result from the combustion of the four
hundred and sixty millions of kilogrammes of coal and wood burned
yearly. The lower animals, fungi, and green plants themselves con-
tribute an amount which must bring the total to twice the immense
sum named above. The atmosphere contains three or four hun-
dredths of one per cent of carbon dioxide, or an amount of about
two to three thousand billions of kilogrammes. No especial varia-
tion in this proportion has been detected since observations upon this
point were first made. The fact that no increase takes place is partly
due to the absorption of the gas by plants, and its replacement by oxy-
gen, and also to certain geological processes in constant operation.
Absorption takes place at the rate of about two and a half grammes
for every square metre of leaf surface per hour, or about twenty-five
to thirty grammes daily, since the process goes on only in daylight.
It is to be seen that a single human being exhales as much carbon di-
oxide as may be removed from the air by thirty or forty square metres
of leaf surface. According to Ebermayer, a hectare (2.47 acres) of
forest would use eleven thousand kilogrammes of carbon dioxide
yearly, and the amount used by plants is generally much in excess
of that furnished by the activity of the inhabitants of any given area.
Plants thrive and show increasing vigor as the amount of carbon
dioxide in the air rises until two hundred times the present propor-
tion is reached. An increase of the gas in the atmosphere would
therefore be partly corrected by the absorption and by the stronger
vegetation induced. Nothing short of a comprehensive cataclysm
could work such disturbance to the composition of the air as to en-
danger the well-being of the animal inhabitants of the earth.

The activity of a square metre of leaf surface results in the
formation of one and a half to two grammes of solid substance per
hour in sunlight. A vigorous sunflower with one hundred and forty-
five leaves constructed thirty-six grammes of solid matter in a day,
and a squash with one hundred and sixteen leaves one hundred and
sixteen grammes in the same length of time. The amounts formed
by such trees as the beech, maple, oak, poplar, elm, and horse-chest-
nut, with leaf surfaces aggregating three hundred to one thousand
square metres, must be correspondingly large.

A comparison of plants grown in strong sunlight, diffuse light,
and darkness will reveal many differences in stature and internal
structure. These differences are for the most part due to the forma-

LIGHT AND VEGETATION. i 95

tive and tonic effect of light. Otherwise expressed, the influence of
■variations of light upon plants causes adaptive reactions, and dis-
turbances of the nutritive processes and growth.

In consequence of these facts the reaction of any given organ to
changes in the intensity of the illumination will depend upon its spe-
cific functions and relation to the remainder of the organism.

The stems formed by seedlings and awakening underground
organs are usually surrounded by plants or other objects which cut
off more or less sunlight. The developing shoot can not spread its
leaves to the light advantageously until it has outstripped or grown
beyond the objects intervening between it and the light. This neces-
sity is one of the most important conditions in the struggle for ex-
istence. To meet it, a very great majority of seed-forming plants
have acquired the power of accelerated elongation of the stems when
deprived of their normal amount of light.

Very striking examples of this reaction are offered by the awak-
ening corms of the Jack-in-the-pulpit (Ariswma triphyllum). The
conns usually lie at a distance of five or six centimetres below the
surface of the soil, and when the growth of the large bud begins in
the spring the heavy sheathing scales elongate and pierce the soil,
opening when the surface is reached at the distance of a few centi-
metres. If thecorm should have been buried deeper in the substratum
by floods or drifts of leaves, the growth of the bud scales will con-
tinue until the light is reached, though it may be a distance of twenty
centimetres. Such growth may be seen if the corms are grown in a
deep layer of sphagnum moss, or in a dark room.

After the stems emerge from the " drawn " buds they show a
similar attenuation, attaining a length of twice the normal. The ex-
cessive elongation of stems is accompanied by variations in the struc-
ture and contents of the tissues. The cells are generally longer,
while the walls are thinner. In consequence, organs grown in dark-
ness are very weak and easily bent or broken. Growth in darkness is
attended by the non-formation of chlorophyll. This is replaced by
etiolin, giving the plant a pale, waxy, yellow appearance.

The adaptive elongation is not shown by all species, however.
It has been found that stems of beet, hop, dioscorea, and a few
others show no adaptations to diminished light. The adaptive
modification of stems elongating in darkness is developed from the
retarding influence exercised by light upon growth. Thus it is a
well-known fact that the action of certain portions of the sun's rays
actually impedes or checks the increase in volume known as growth,
though it does not influence actual division of the cells to any great
extent. When this retarding action is eliminated excessive elonga-
tion ensues.

196 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

The behavior of leaves in illuminations below the normal de-
pends upon the relation of these organs to the storage structures of
the plant as well as upon other factors, and many types are de-
pendent upon their own activity for plastic material necessary for
growth.

It is to be said in general that leaves of dicotyledonous plants
are incapable of full development in darkness, though to this rule
there are many exceptions. Thus the leaves of the beet develop
normally, or nearly so, in darkness.

On the other hand, leaves of monocotyledonous plants attain
normal size in darkness, especially those with straight or curved
parallel venation. Some, as the iris, swamp marigold, and onion,
attain a greater length in darkness than in light. Here, as in stems,
cell division is not modified, but the growth of the individual cell
is increased.

The growth of leaves in darkness may be easily observed if the
underground perennial stems of common mandrake are placed in a
dark chamber before the growth of the leaf buds has begun. The
leaves are peltate, and in the bud are folded about the end of the
petiole after the manner of an umbrella. Usually this umbrella
expands as soon as it has pushed upward and become free from the
soil, attaining a diameter of twenty-five to forty centimetres when
outspread. In darkness, however, it refuses to unfold, the laminae
are pale yellow and retain the crumpled form of the bud, and as the
petiole shows an exaggerated elongation the organ takes on the ap-
pearance of a very small parasol on a very long handle. The imper-
fect development of leaves and the rapid decay of aerial organs
deprived of sunlight leads to the conclusion that the action of light
is necessary to the health and normal activity of these organs, and
the light therefore exercises a tonic influence upon vegetation.

Many species of plants are so plastic and capable of such ready
response to variations in external conditions that they undergo dis-
tinct morphological changes in response to variations in the intensity
of the light. The common potato is an example of this fact. The
edible tubers are simply thickened stems, and the plant has the habit
of storing starch in any stems not acted upon by the light. The
branches arising from the base of the main stem are generally un-
derneath the surface of the soil, and afford the proper conditions
for tuber formation. Sugar is constructed in the leaves, carried down
the length of the stem, and deposited in the underground branches
as starch. Space is made for the accumulating store by the multi-
plication of the thin-walled cells of the pith. If any of the upper
branches should become shaded, they become at once the focus of
converging streams of sugar, and similar enlargement ensues, re-

LIGHT AND VEGETATION.

197

suiting in the formation of tubers. Such structures are occasionally
observed in plants grown thickly together,

Vochting, by a number of most ingenious experiments, has suc-
ceeded in producing tubers on any branch of a potato plant by simply
inclosing the branch in a small dark chamber. As the result of one
experiment the entire main stem springing from a sprouting tuber
was converted into a new tuber nearly as large as the first. The
entire plant at the close of the experiment had the form of a dumb-
bell, with the old tuber as one ball and the new tuber as the other.

The same writer has described important results obtained from a
study of the action of light upon the stems of cactus, consisting of
a number of flattened internodes. When the growing tips of such
plants were allowed to develop in a dark chamber the new internodes
grown were cylindrical in form. Such behavior suggests that these
plants were originally furnished with cylindrical stems and foliar
leaves. The leaves at some time in the history of the plant were
found unsuitable, and gradually atrophied, while the stems were
flattened and extended to take up their functions.

Some very striking adaptations of form of organs to the intensity
of the light have been analyzed by Goebel. The common harebell
{Campanula rotundi folia) has an upright stem twenty to sixty centi-
metres in height. The upper part of the stem bears sessile lanceolate
leaves, decreasing in size from the base to the summit. The first
leaves formed by the stem on its emergence from the soil are entirely
different in construction, showing a heart-shaped lamina with a dis-
tinct petiole. These leaves are formed at the actual surface of the
soil, are generally more or less shaded or covered by fallen leaves, and
in fact are not known or seen by many collectors or observers of
the plant. Goebel found that similar leaves might be formed on any
part of the plant if it were shaded from the full glare of the sun's
rays. The cordate leaves at the base of the stem were always pro-
duced, however, no matter to what intensity of illumination that
part of the plant was subjected. It is therefore safe to conclude
that the cordate leaves are inherited forms, and that the lanceolate
organs are adaptations to light which may be shown by any individual
of the species.

In general it is to be said that the leaves of sun-loving species
have a thick epidermis, entirely free from chlorophyll, with stomata
on the lower side only, a firm consistence due to the formation of
woody tissues, and are often provided with a coating of hairs. The
leaves of shade-loving plants, on the other hand, have a thin-walled
epidermis often containing chlorophyll, stomata on both sides, and
are not so plentifully provided with hairs as those in exposed situa-
tions.

198 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

The variations in external form described above are due to the
intensity of the illumination. At the same time the structure and
arrangement of the cells depend on the direction from which the
light rays come. Thus, an organ receiving light from one side only
will exhibit a structure different from an organ of the same kind
receiving direct rays from two or more sides. Light, then, is a cause
of dorsiventrality — that is, of the fact that the upper and lower sides
of organs are not alike in structure. The leaf affords a splendid ex-
ample of dorsiventrality as a result of the exposure of one side only
to direct light. The upper side of a horizontal leaf, such as the oak,
beech, or maple, contains one or two layers of cylindrical cells with
their long axes perpendicular to the surface. In vertical leaves, such
as the iris, these palisade cells, as they are termed, are not so well
defined, and in all leaves grown in darkness this tissue is very much
reduced. If a young leaf not yet unfolded from the bud is fas-
tened in such a position that the under side is uppermost, pali-
sade cells will be formed on the side exposed to the direct rays of
the sun.

The influence of light upon the sporophylls, or reproductive or-
gans of the seed-forming plants, is quite as well defined as upon the
vegetative organs.

In general it is to be said that stamens and pistils may reach
functional maturity in darkness or diffuse light, and if pollination is
provided for, seed and fruit formation may ensue.

The diminution of light has the effect of transforming inflores-
cences into leafy shoots in some instances, however. The more
common reaction consists of alterations in the size, form, and color
of the perianth, and greater changes are induced in the petals than
in the sepals. The corolla shows greater decrease in size in Melan-
dryum and Silene, in diffuse light, though the relative form is main-
tained. The writer has obtained most striking results from growing
flowers of Salvia (sage) in a dark chamber, inclosing the inflo-
rescence only. In the normal flower the irregular scarlet corolla
attains three times the length of the calyx, and two stamens extrude
from under the upper lip. When grown in darkness, the corolla
with the adherent stamens measure about three millimetres in length,
or one twelfth the normal, and are scarcely more than half the size
of the calyx, which is but two thirds the size of similar organs grown
in the light. The color is entirely lacking from the corolla, and is
found only along the veins of the calyx.

In other instances in which the corolla is composed of separate
members, an unequal reaction is exhibited. The corolla of nastur-
tium (Tropwolum ma jus) consists of five approximately equal petals.
Flowers of this species grown in darkness show one of nearly normal

LIGHT AND VEGETATION. 199

stature, two of reduced size, while the remaining two take the form
of club-shaped bracts.

The diminished size of the perianth of cleistogamous flowers of
such types as the violet is due directly to the action of diminished
light upon the hidden or inclosed flower.

The influence of light upon the structure, reproductive processes,
and distribution of the lower forms brings about the most widely
divergent reactions, which can not be described here.

The distribution and color of marine algae depend upon the depth
of the water and the consequent intensity of the light. This gives
rise to distinct zones of aquatic vegetation. Thus in one series of
surveys the littoral zone, the beach area covered at high water and
exposed at low water, was found to furnish proper conditions for
green, brown, and red algae. The sublittoral zone, extending to a
depth of forty metres, is furnished with red algae, increasing in num-
ber with the depth, and the brown algae disappear; while the elittoral
zone, from forty to one hundred and ten metres, is inhabited by red
algae alone. The number of species of vegetal organisms below
this depth is extremely small. An alga (Halosphceria viridis)
has been brought up from depths of one thousand to two thousand
metres.

A very great number of bacteria are unfavorably affected by
light, and find proper conditions at some depth in the soil or water.
It is on account of this fact that the water of frozen streams becomes
more thickly inhabited by certain organisms than in the summer
time, and exposure to sunlight is adopted as a hygienic measure in
freeing clothing and household effects from infection. Bacteria
occur abundantly in sea water at depths of two hundred to four
hundred metres, and quite a number of species are to be found at
eight hundred to eleven hundred metres.

The distribution of fungi follows the general habit of bacteria
in that they thrive best in darkness.

It is to be noticed in this connection that light is also a deter-
mining factor in the distribution of the higher land plants. Thus
the amount of light received in polar latitudes is quite insuffi-
cient for the needs of many species, entirely irrespective of tem-
perature.

The retarding influence of light upon growth is even more
marked in the lower forms than in the higher. Such action is the
result of the disintegrating effect of the blue-violet rays upon fer-
ments and nitrogenous plastic substances.

The greater massiveness of the bodies of the higher plants en-
ables them to carry on the chemical activities in which these sub-
stances are concerned in the interior, where the intense rays may not

200 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

penetrate. The attenuated and undifferentiated fungi must seek the
shade, to escape the dangers of strong light, against which they have
no shield.

The reproductive processes are particularly sensitive to illumina-
tion. The formation of zoospores by green felt (Vaucheria) may
occur only in darkness, at night, or in diffuse light, and these ex-
amples might be multiplied indefinitely. Many features of the ger-
mination of spores and the growth of protonemce or prothallia among
the mosses, liverworts, and ferns are determined by light.

Perhaps the most striking reactions of plants to light are to be
seen in locomotor and orientation movements.

Locomotor movements are chiefly confined to lower forms, and
are most noticeable in the " swarm spores," or zoospores of the algse,
though exhibited by spermatozooids as well. Zoospores may be seen
collected against the side of the vessel receiving direct sunlight,
while the opposite side of the vessel will be free from them. The
chlorophyll bodies of green cells arrange themselves similarly. The
latter bodies may move away from the exposed side of the cell if
the light exceeds a certain intensity.

The typical plant may not move its body toward or away from
the source of light, but it may secure the same end by dispositions of
its surfaces to vary the angle at which the rays are received. This
form of irritability is one of the most highly developed properties of
the plant. Wiesner has found that a seedling of the vetch is sensi-
tive to an amount of light represented by one ten-millionth of a
unit represented by a Roscoe-Bunsen flame. The " sensitiveness "
to light may take one of three forms: The organ may place its axis
parallel and pointing toward the source of the rays, as in stems, when
it is said to be proheliotropic ; the axis of the organ may assume a
position perpendicular to the rays, which is designated as diahelio-
tropism; or it may place its axis parallel to the rays and pointing
away from the light, when it is said to be apheliotropic. Upright
stems are proheliotropic, horizontal leaves and creeping stems are
diaheliotropic, and roots and such stems as those of ivy are aphe-
liotropic.

Sunlight varies from zero to the full blaze of the noonday sun,
and assumes its greatest intensity in the equatorial regions. The in-
tensity in latitudes 40° to 45° north would be represented by 1.5
units, and at the equator by 1.6 units. Near the equator the intensity
is so great that an ordinary leaf may not receive the full force of the
noonday sun without damage. The injury would not result from the
luminous rays, but from the temperatures, 40° to 50° C, arising
from the conversion of light into heat. As an adaptation to this
condition nearly all leaves have either a pendent or a vertical posi-

LIGHT AND VEGETATION. 201

tion, or the power of assuming this position by motor or impassive
wilting movements.

Among the plants of the temperate zone the so-called compass
plants are examples of similar adaptations. The compass plants in-
clude, among others, the wild lettuce {Lactuca scariola) and rosin
weed (Silphium laciniatum). These plants place the leaves in a
vertical position with the tips pointing north and south in such man-
ner that the direct rays of the morning and evening sun only may
strike the surfaces at right angles, while the edges are presented to
the fierce rays at noonday. That this arrangement is an adaptation
against the intense light is evident when it is seen that specimens
growing in shaded locations or in diffuse light place the leaves in
the typical horizontal position. To meet the functional conditions,
both sides of the compass leaves are almost equally provided with
palisade cells for food formation and stomata for transpiration. The
estimation of the light striking a compass leaf shows that it receives
approximately the same amount of light as a horizontal leaf during
the course of a day, but the two maxima of intensity, morning and
evening, are much below that of the noon of horizontal leaves.

The influence of light upon plants may be briefly summed as
follows :

Light is necessary for the formation of food substances by green
plants, and it is an important factor in distribution in land and ma-
rine forms.

Growth and reproduction are generally retarded by the action of
the blue-violet rays.

Light is fatal to certain bacteria and other low forms of vegeta-
ble life.

Many plants have the power of accelerated growth of stems in
diminished light as an adaptation for lifting the leaves above " shad-
ing " objects.

The growth of many leaves and of the perianth of flowers is
hindered in diminished light.

The outward form of many organs, particularly leaves, is de-
pendent upon the intensity of the light received.

The internal structure of bilateral or dorsiventral organs is large-
ly determined by the direction of the rays.

Plants have the power of movement to adjust their surfaces to a
proper angle with impinging light rays, as a protective adaptation.

Matches which do not contain any phosphorus and which take fire by
friction on any surface — a match that has been long sought — have been
prepared by Mr. S. A. Rosenthal and Dr. S. J. von Kornocki. It is repre-
sented that they can be manufactured as cheaply as ordinary matches.

202 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

THE STONE AGE IN EGYPT.

By J. DE MORGAN.

THE investigation of the origin of man in Egypt is a very com-
plex problem, belonging as much to geology as to archaeology.
The earliest evidences we have of human industry, in fact, go back
to so remote a period that they should be regarded rather as fossils
than as archaeological documents. They are very coarsely worked
flints, which are found near the surface of the ground among the
pebbles of the Quaternary or Pleistocene epoch, and similar to those
which occur abundantly in Europe, America, and Asia; but the
study and collection of them have been pursued with less method
than in those countries. The more recent monuments, so much more
conspicuous and more easily accessible, have attracted most attention,
while these have been left in the background.

No region in the world presents a clearer and more distinct indi-
vidual character than Egypt. Each village is a special world, each
valley a universe that has developed its own life; and man has felt
the special local impressions; and even in modern times, while all
the Egyptian villages present a similar aspect, and although the
fellah appears to be the same sort of a man everywhere, each locality
has its special individual characteristics. One who knows how to
observe men and things critically will find considerable differences.
These dissimilarities are as old as Egypt itself. They have always
existed, and are as much more intense as the communications be-
tween district and district were formerly more difficult. They are
due to physical conditions special to each village, to the prevailing
winds, the form and character of the mountains, the extent of cul-
tivable lands, and the supply of water. A study of the detail of the
country is a very important preliminary to the examination of
Egyptian history. Every village and every nome had formerly its
special divinity and its particular usages. Are we sure that the gods
and customs were not imposed by local conditions? At Ombos two
hostile gods were adored in the same temple. May we not see in
this fact a recollection of the hostility which has always prevailed
between the inhabitants of the two banks of the river, and still con-
tinues?

Previous, however, to investigating these details which have
been so influential on Egyptian civilization, we ought to dispel the
darkness which hides from us the earliest traces of man in the valley
of the Nile, and examine how man lived in his beginning, to study
the geology of the country and its condition when it issued from the
seas. As one of the results of this study we find that palaeolithic

THE STONE AGE IN EGYPT. 203

man, known to us only through the rough-cut flints we find in the
alluvions, made his first appearance. After this period of excavation
came that of filling up with silt, which still continues. New evi-
dences of man appear in his burial places and the ruins of his vil-
lages, the kitchen middens which he has left in his habitations of
unburned brick and in his camps. This time he is more civilized ; he
chips his flints with a skill that is not surpassed in European neolithic
implements; he makes vessels of stone and clay, covers them with
rude paintings, sculptures animal forms of schist, and wears neck-
laces of the shells and the stones of the country. Then comes a
foreign people to take possession of Egypt, bringing knowledge of
metals, writing, hieroglyphics, painting, sculpture, new industries
and arts that have nothing in common with the arts of the people
it has overcome. The ancient Pharaonic empire begins, or perhaps
the reign of the divine dynasties. The men with stone implements
are the aborigines; the others are the conquering civilized Egyptians.
Nothing can be more interesting than a comparison of the arts of the
aborigines and those of the Egyptians of the earlier dynasties.
Nearly all their characteristics are different, and it is impossible to
regard them as of common origin. Yet some of the native forms per-
sisted till the last days of the empire of the Pharaohs. These
aborigines belonged to a race that is now extinct, they having been
absorbed into the mass of the Egyptians and Nubians among whom
they lived, and from this mixture the fellah of ancient times is de-
rived. The origin of the conquering race — of the Egyptians as we
know them — has not been precisely determined. The weight of evi-
dence, so far as it has been obtained, and the balance of opinion, are
in favor of an Asiatic origin and of primary relationship with the
Shemites of Chaldea.

In Egypt more than in any other country it is necessary to pro-
ceed with the most scrupulous circumspection in the examination of
remote antiquities. The relics of thousands of years of human life
have been piled one upon another and often intermixed. The ques-
tions they raise can not be answered in the cabinet or by the study of
texts; but the inquiry must be prosecuted on the ground, by com-
parison of the deposits where they are found and in the deposits from
which they are recovered.

From my first arrival in Egypt, in 1892, my attention has been
greatly occupied with the question of the origin of the relics of the
stone age that have been found from time to time in that country.
I have gathered up the scattered documents, explored a large number
of sites, and have bought such flint implements as I have found on
sale. I have gradually been led to believe that while some of these
cut stones may possibly belong to the historical epoch, we shall have

20 4 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

to attribute a much more remote antiquity to the most of them, and
that evidences of a neolithic age in the valley of the Nile are more
abundant than has generally been supposed.

In many minds the historical antiquity of Egypt, the almost
fabulous ages to which its civilization ascends, seem to challenge the
history of other countries, and the land of the Pharaohs, rejecting all
chronological comparison, to have appeared in the midst of the world
as a single example of a land which savage life had never trodden.
Yet what are the centuries since Menes ruled over the reclaimed val-
leys, the few thousand years of which we can calculate the duration,
by the side of the incalculable lapse of time since man, struggling
with the glaciers and the prehistoric beasts, began his conquest of the
earth? The antiquity of Egypt, the eight thousand years (if it be as
many) since the first Pharaoh, are only as an atom in the presence
of these ages. "We can assert some vague knowledge of these pre-
Pharaonic inhabitants, for two hatchets of the Chellean pattern were
found some time ago in the desert, one at Esnet, the other near the
pyramids of Gizeh; and we can now affirm in the most positive man-
ner that Quaternary man lived in the country which is now Egypt, and
was then only preparing to be. Four palaeolithic stations have been
more recently discovered — at Thebes, Tukh, Abydos, and Daschur.
Join these sites to the other two where isolated pieces were found, and
we have the geography of what we know at present of Chellean man
in the valley of the Nile. Doubtless continuous researches would
result in similar discoveries at other points, for I have met these
relics wherever I have been able to make a short sojourn. The
Chellean implements are found in the gravels of the diluvium on
the pebbly surface. They have been disturbed and probably scat-
tered, but some places yield them more numerously than others —
points possibly corresponding to the ancient workshops. I have
found a considerable number of specimens at Deir-el-Medinet; M.
Daressy, of the Bureau of Antiquities, found a perfectly characteristic
Chellean hammer stone in the Valley of the Queens at Gurneh, as
perfectly worked as the best specimens found at Chelles, St. Acheul,
and Moulin-Quignon.

The finds are not very numerous at Tukh, but one may in a
few hours make a collection there of hatchets (or hammer stones),
scrapers, points, simple blades, and a large number of stones bear-
ing indisputable marks of having been worked, but not presenting
precise forms. The deposit at Abydos is in the bottom of a circle
behind the ruins surrounding the Pharaonic necropolis. The speci-
mens seem sufficient to prove the existence of Quaternary man in
Egypt, while the search for them has hardly yet begun. In view of
them it is extremely improbable that man did not also exist there

THE STONE AGE IN EGYPT. 205

during the long period that intervened between this primitive age
and that of the earliest Egyptians who had metals. He did ex-
ist there then, and the evidences of it are found in neolithic
remains between Cairo and Thebes, a distance of about eight hun-
dred kilometres along the valley of the Nile, in the Fayum, and
in Upper Egypt. Among these are the remarkable tombs at Abydos
which have been explored by M. E. Amelineau, and of which he has
published descriptions. They belong to a category which I have
characterized as tombs of transition and as signalizing the passage
from the use of polished stone to that of metals. Their archaic char-
acter can not be disputed, and their royal origin is probably certain.
They may belong to aboriginal kings or to the earliest dynasties.
They reveal a knowledge of brass and of the use of gold for orna-
ment. At the necropolis of El-'Amrah, a few miles south of Abydos,
are some archaic tombs, all of the same model, composed of an
oval trench from five to six and a half feet deep. The body is laid
on the left side, and the legs are doubled up till the knees are
even with the sternum; the forearms are drawn out in front and
the hands placed one upon the other before the face, while the head
is slightly bent forward. Around the skeleton are vases, and large,
rudely made urns, often filled with ashes or the bones of animals, and
nearer to them are painted or red vessels with black or brown edges,
vessels roughly shaped out of stone, and figurines in schist repre-
senting fishes or quadrupeds, cut flints, alabaster clubs, and necklaces
and bracelets of shells. Bronze is rare, and found always in shape
of small implements. Both purely neolithic tombs and burials of the
transition period to metals occur at El-'Amrah. The most remarkable
feature of the burials is the position of the corpse, totally unlike any-
thing that is found of the Pharaonic ages.

The Egyptian finds of stone implements present the peculiarity
as compared with those of Europe, that types are found associated
together belonging to what would be regarded in other countries as
very different epochs. The time may come when subdivisions can
be made of the Egyptian stone age, but the study has not yet been
pursued far enough to make this practicable at present. Among
these articles are hatchets showing -the transitions, examples of which
are wanting in Europe, from the rudest stone hammer to the polished
neolithic implement; knives of various shape and some of hand-
some workmanship; scrapers, lance heads, arrowheads, saws, pins,
bodkins, maces, beads, bracelets, and combs. The large number of
instruments with toothed blades found at some of the stations may
be regarded as pointing to a very extensive cultivation of cereals at
the time they were in use. The deposits of Tukh, Zarra'idah, Khat-
tarah, Abydos, etc., situated in regions suitable for growing grain,

zo6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

yield thousands of them, while they are very rare at the fishing
station of Dimeh. That the use of sickles tipped with flint very
probably lasted long after the introduction of metals seems to be
proved by the hieroglyphics; but very few evidences of the existence
of such tools are found after the middle empire.

ISTo traces of articles related to the religion of the Pharaohs are
found in the burial places of the aborigines. In place of the statu-
ettes and funerary divinities of later times are found rude figurines
of animals cut in green schists. They represent fishes, tortoises with
eyes adorned with hard stone or nacre, and numerous signs the origin
of which is unknown, and were apparently regarded as fetiches or
divinities. Articles of pottery are very numerous, very crude, and of
a great variety of forms. It is not necessary to suppose that the peo-
ple who have left these relics were savages or barbarians. History
and even the present age afford instances of many peoples who have
obtained considerable degrees of civilization while backward in some
of the arts. It is hardly possible to achieve delicacy of design and
finish without the use of metals. I believe I have shown that an
age of stone once existed in Egypt, and that it furthermore played
an important part, even in Pharaonic civilization. — Translated for
the Popular Science Monthly from the Author's Recherches sur les
Origines cle VEgypte.

I

SUPEKSTITION AND CHIME.

By Prof. E. P. EVANS.

1ST January, 1898, an elderly woman came in great anxiety to a
priest of the Church of St. Ursula, in Munich, Bavaria, and
complained that the devil haunted her house at night and frightened
her by making a great noise. In explanation of this unseasonable
and undesirable visit from the lower world she stated that a joint-
stock company had been formed in Berlin, with a branch in Munich,
for the purpose of discovering hidden treasures, and that in order to
attain this object a human sacrifice must be made to the devil, and
that she had been selected as the victim. A woman, whose husband
was a stockholder in the aforesaid company, had kindly communi-
cated to her this information, so that she might be prepared and have
time to set her house in order. Satan, however, grew impatient of
the promised sacrifice, and began to look after her. The priest sent
one of his younger assistants at the altar to read appropriate prayers
in the haunted house, and thus exorcise the evil spirit. We can
hardly suppose that his reverence believed in the reality of the re-
ported apparition, and yet he could not assert its impossibility by

SUPERSTITION AND CRIME. 207

calling in question the existence of the devil or the actuality of dia-
bolical agencies in human affairs without undermining the founda-
tions of the ecclesiastical system, of which he was an acknowledged
supporter. Such a declaration would " take away our hope," as the
Scotchman said of the denial of a literal hell-fire and the doctrine
of eternal punishment. It was for the same reason that the great
body of the Catholic clergy, from Pope Leo XIII and the highest
dignitaries of the church down to the humblest country vicar, so
easily fell into the snares laid by Leo Taxil and accepted the signa-
ture of the devil Bitru as genuine, and his revelations concerning the
pact of the freemasons with Satan as authentic. It is certainly some-
what startling to meet with such a case of gross superstition as the
above-mentioned in one of the seats of modern science and centers
of European civilization. In rural districts, remote from the influ-
ences of intellectual culture, however, instances of this kind are of
quite frequent occurrence, and often result in the commission of
crime. Human sacrifices to Satan are still by no means uncommon
in many parts of Russia, and are supposed to be effective in warding
off famine and in staying the ravages of pestilence. Even in Ger-
many and other countries of western Europe the belief in their
prophylactic virtue is remarkably prevalent, and would be often put
into practice were it not for the stricter administration of justice and
the greater terror of the law.

In October, 1889, the criminal court in the governmental prov-
ince of Archangelsk, in northern Russia, sentenced a Samoyede,
Jefrern Pyrerka, to fifteen years' imprisonment with hard labor for
the murder of a maiden named Ssavaney. His sole defense was
that an unusually severe winter with a heavy fall of snow had pro-
duced a famine followed by scurvy, of which all his children had
died. He therefore made an image of the devil out of wood, smeared
its lips with fat, and set it up on a hillock. He then attempted to
lasso one of his companions, Andrey Tabarey, and had already
thrown the noose round his neck, when the energetic wife of the
intended victim intervened and rescued her husband. Shortly after-
ward he succeeded in strangling the girl and offering her as a sac-
rifice to his idol. In the province of Novgorod, known as " the dark-
est Russia," it is a general custom among the country people to sac-
rifice some animal, usually a black cat, a black cock, or a black dog,
by burying it alive, in order to check the spread of cholera. In the
village of Kamenka, a peasant, whose son had died of this disease,
interred with the body eight live tomcats. The immolation of dumb
animals, however, is deemed less efficacious than that of human be-
ings. On one occasion, when the cholera was raging severely, a depu-
tation of peasants waited upon their parson, stating that they had

208 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

determined to bury him alive in order to appease the demon of the
plague. He escaped this horrible death only by apparently acceding
to their wishes and craving a few days' respite in order to prepare for
such a solemn ceremony; meanwhile he took the measures necessary
to secure his safety and thwarted the purpose of his loving parish-
ioners. In Okopovitchi, a village of the same province, the peasants
succeeded in enticing an aged woman, Lucia Manjkov, into the
cemetery, where they thrust her alive into the grave containing the
bodies of those who had died of the epidemic, and quickly covered
her up. "When brought to trial they proved that they had acted on
the advice of a military surgeon, Kosakovitch, who was therefore
regarded as the chief culprit, and sentenced to be knout ed by the
hangman, and then to undergo twelve years' penal servitude in
Siberia. We are indebted for these instances of barbarous super-
stition to the researches of Augustus Lowenstimm, associate juris-
consult in the department of justice at St. Petersburg, who has
derived them from thoroughly authentic and mostly official sources.
He reports several occurrences of a similar kind during the epi-
demics of cholera in 1831, 1855, and 1872. Indeed, it is very
difficult to abolish such pagan practices so long as the clergy
foster the notion that animal sacrifices are expiatory and propitia-
tory in their effects. In some parts of the province of Vologda
{■, is still customary on the day dedicated to the prophet Elias
(July 20th in the Greek calendar) to offer up bullocks, he-goats, or
other quadrupeds within the precincts of the church. The animal
is driven into the courtyard surrounding the sacred edifice and there
slaughtered; the flesh is boiled in a large kettle, one half of it being
kept by the peasants who provide the sacrifice, while the other half
is distributed among the priests and sacristans.*

The belief that the walls of dams, bridges, aqueducts, and build-
ings are rendered preternaturally strong by immuring a living human
being within them still prevails in many countries of Christendom,
and there is hardly an old castle in Europe that has not a legend of
this sort connected with it. Usually a child is supposed to be selected
for this purpose, and the roving bands of gypsies are popularly
accused of furnishing the infant victims. The custom of depositing
gold coins or other precious objects in the foundation stones of im-
portant public edifices is doubtless a survival of the ancient super-
stition, f

* Lowenstimm's studies, printed originally in the Journal of the Ministry of Justice in
St. Petersburg, have been made accessible to a larger class of readers by being collected
and translated into German in a volume entitled Aberglaube und Strafrecht (Berlin : Rade,
1897), with an introduction by Prof. Joseph Kohler, of the University of Berlin.

f As the Siberian Railway approached the northern boundaries of the Chinese Empire
and surveys were made for its extension through Manchuria to the sea, great excitement

SUPERSTITION AND CRIME. 209

Lowenstimm mentions a curious superstition of pagan origin
still practiced in portions of Russia, and known as " korovya smertj "
(cow-death) and " opachivaniye " (plowing roundabout). If pesti-
lence or murrain prevails in a village, an old woman of repute as a
seeress or fortune-teller enters the confines of the village at midnight
and beats a pan. Thereupon all the women of the place assemble in
haste, armed with divers domestic utensils — frying-pans, pokers,
tongs, shovels, scythes, and cudgels. After shutting the cattle in
their stalls, and warning the men not to leave their houses, a
procession is formed. The seeress takes off her dress and pro-
nounces a curse upon Death. She is then hitched to a plow, to-
gether with a bevy of virgins and a misshapen woman, if such a
one can be found, and a continuous and closed furrow is drawn
round the village three times. When the procession starts, the
image of some saint suitable to the occasion, that of St. Blasius, for
example, in the case of murrain, is borne in front of it; this is fol-
lowed by the seeress, clad only in a shift, with disheveled hair and
riding on a broomstick; after her come women and maidens draw-
ing the plow, and behind them the rest of the crowd, shrieking and
making a fearful din. They kill every animal they meet, and if a
man is so unfortunate as to fall in with them he is mercilessly beaten,
and usually put to death. In the eyes of these raging women he is
not a human being, but Death himself in the form of a were-wolf,
who seeks to cross their path and thus break the charm and destroy
the healing virtue of the furrow. The ceremony varies in different
places, and generally ends by burying alive a cat, cock, or dog. . In
some districts the whole population of the village, both men and
women, take part in the procession, and are often attended by the
clergy with sacred images and consecrated banners. During the
prevalence of the pest in the province of Podolia, in 1738, the in-
habitants of the village of Gummenez, while marching in procession
through the fields, met Michael Matkovskij, a nobleman of a neigh-
boring village, who was looking for his stray horses. The strange
man, wandering about with an eager look and a bridle in his hand,
was regarded as the incarnate pestilence, and was therefore seized
and most brutally beaten and left lying half naked and half dead
on the ground. At length he recovered his senses and succeeded with

was produced in Pekin by the rumor that the Russian minister had applied to the Empress
of China for two thousand children to be buried in the roadbed under the rails in order to
strengthen it Some years ago, in rebuilding a large bridge, which had been swept away
several times by inundations in the Yarkand, eight children, purchased from poor people at
a high price, were immured alive in the foundations. As the new bridge was firmly con-
structed out of excellent materials, it has hitherto withstood the force of the strongest
floods, a result which the Chinese attribute, not to the solid masonry, but to the propitia-
tion of the river god by an offering of infants.

TOL. LIT. — 15

210 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

great difficulty in reaching his home. No sooner was it known that
he was still alive than the peasants rushed into his house, dragged
him to their village, subjected him to terrible tortures, and finally
burned him. A curious feature of these remedial rites is the mixture
of paganism and Christianity which characterizes them; and it is
an unquestionable though almost incredible fact that their atoning
efficacy is often quite as firmly believed in by the village priests of
the Russian Church as by the most ignorant members of their flock.
In the autumn of 1894 some Russian peasants in the district of
Kazan slew one of their own number as a sacrifice to the gods of
the Yotiaks, a Finnish race dwelling on the Volga, Viatka, and
Kama Rivers. Even orthodox Christians of the Greek Church,
although regarding these gods as devils, fear and seek to propitiate
them, especially in times of public distress. -

Still more widely diffused is the practice of infanticide as the
sequence of superstition. The belief that dwarfs or gnomes, dwell-
ing in the inner parts of the earth, carry off beautiful newborn babes
and leave their own deformed offspring in their stead is not confined
to any one people, but is current alike in Germanic, Celtic, Romanic,
and Slavic countries, and causes a misshapen child to be looked upon
with suspicion and subjected to cruel tortures and even killed. The
supposed changeling is often severely beaten with juniper rods and
the scourging attended with incantations, so as to compel the wicked
fairies to reclaim their deformed bantling and restore the stolen
child. If the castigation proves ineffective, more summary measures
are frequently taken, and the supposititious suckling is thrown out
of the window on a dunghill or immersed in boiling water. In 1877,
in the city of New York, an Irish immigrant and his wife burned
their child to death under the delusion that they were ridding them-
selves of a changeling. Cases of this kind are quite common in
Ireland, where the victims are sometimes adults.* Not long since
Magoney, an Irish peasant, had a sickly child, which the most care-
ful nurture failed to restore to health and strength. The parents,
therefore, became convinced that a changeling had been imposed
upon them, and when the boy was four years old they resolved to
have recourse to boiling water, in which he was kept, notwithstand-
ing his shrieks and protestations that he was not an elf, but their
own Johnny Magoney, until death released him from his torments.

Wilhelm Mannhardt, the celebrated writer on folklore, states
that when, in 1850, he was in Loblau, a village of West Prussia, he
saw a man brutally maltreating a boy on the street. On inquiry he

* See the case of Bridget Cleary, reported in Appletons' Popular Science Monthly for
November, 1895, p. 86. We may add that her husband, Michael Cleary, was tried for
murder and sentenced to twenty years' penal servitude.

SUPERSTITION AND CRIME. 211

found that the lad had done nothing worthy of blame, but that his
only fault was an exceptionally large head. This cranial peculiarity,
offensively conspicuous in what seems to have been a narrow-headed
family, was reason enough for the parents to disown their offspring,
and to treat him as the counterfeit of a child foisted in by the fairies.
At Hadersleben, a considerable market town of North Silesia, the
wife of a farmer, in 1883, gave birth to a puny infant, which the
parents at once assumed to be a changeling. In order to defeat the
evil designs of the elves and to compel the restoration of their own
child, they held the newborn over a bed of live coals on the hearth
until it was covered with blisters and died in intense agony. In East
Prussia, the Mazurs, a Polish race, whose only notable contribution to
modern civilization and the gayety of nations is the mazurka, take pre-
cautionary measures by placing a book (usually the Bible, although
any book will do) under the head of the newborn babe, so as to pre-
vent the devil from spiriting it away and substituting for it one of
his own hellish brood, thus unwittingly furnishing a marvelous illus-
tration of the beneficent influence of the printing press and the
magic power of literature. The Estnian inhabitants of the island of
Oesel in Livonia refrain from kindling a fire in the house while the
rite of baptism is being celebrated, lest the light of the flames should
render it easier for Satan surreptitiously to exchange an imp for the
infant. After the sacred ceremony has been performed there is sup-
posed to be no danger of such a substitution.

One of the most incredible instances of this extremely silly and
surprisingly persistent superstition occurred in 1871 at Biskunizy, a
village of Prussian Posen, where a laborer, named Bekker, had by
industry and frugality gradually acquired a competence and been
able to buy a house of his own, in which he led a happy domestic
life with his wife and five children, of whom he was very fond.
After fourteen years of unbroken felicity the wife's elder sister,
Marianne Chernyak, came from Poland to pay them a visit. This
woman was a crackbrained devotee, who spent half her time in going
to mass and the other half in backbiting her neighbors. She also
claimed that she could detect at once whether a person is in league
with Satan, and could cast out devils. The villagers came to look
upon her as a witch, and avoided all association with her, especially
as her aberrations manifested themselves in exceedingly malevolent
and mischievous forms. Unfortunately, she acquired complete
ascendency over her younger sister, who accepted her absurd pre-
tensions as real. On November 19, 1871, Marianne, after return-
ing from confession, went to bed, but at midnight Mrs. Bekker, who
slept with her youngest child, a boy about a year old, was awakened
by a fearful shriek and lit the lamp. Thereupon the sister rushed

212 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

into the room, crying : " The demons have stolen your child and put
a changeling in your bed: beat him, beat him, if you wish to have
your child again! " Under the influence of this suggestion, which
seemed to be almost hypnotic in its character, the bewildered mother
began to beat the boy. The aunt now seized him and swung him
to and fro, as if she would fling him out of the window, at the same
time calling out to Satan: " There! you have him; take your brat! "
She then gave him back to his mother with the words : " Throw him
to the ground, drub him, beat him to death; otherwise you will never
recover your child." This advice was followed, and the boy severely
strapped with a heavy girdle as he lay on the floor. Meanwhile
Bekker, hearing the noise, got up and at first tried to intervene for
the protection of his son, but was easily convinced by his wife that
she was doing the right thing, and persuaded to aid her in discom-
fiting the devil by beating the boy with a juniper stick. The process
of exorcism, thus renewed with increased vigor, soon proved fatal.
At this juncture, as the son of the aunt, a lad of five years, threw
himself down with loud lamentations beside the dead body of his
little cousin, his mother cried out: " Beat him; he is not my child!
Why should we spare him? We shall get other children! ' There-
upon he, too, was maltreated in the same manner until he expired.
The aunt then declared that the devil had crept into the stovepipe,
and went to work to demolish the stove, but, when she was prevented
from doing so, fled into the garden, where she was found the next
morning by the school-teacher. By this time Bekker and his wife
seem to have come to their senses, and were sitting by the corpses
of the murdered children, weeping and praying, as the neighbors
entered the house. The trial, which took place at Ostrov in January,
1872, led to the introduction of conflicting expert testimony concern-
ing the mental soundness of the accused, and the matter was finally
referred to a commission of psychiaters in Berlin, who decided that
Bekker and his wife were not suffering from mental disease, and
therefore not irresponsible, but that the aunt was subject to periodical
insanity to such a degree as not to be accountable for her actions.
Curiously enough, the jurors remained uninfluenced by this testi-
mony, and pronounced her guilty of the crime laid to her charge,
and in accordance with this verdict the court sentenced her to three
years' imprisonment with hard labor. The jurors even went so far
as to declare that she herself did not believe in the existence of elf
children or satanic changelings, but made use of this popular super-
stition for her own selfish purposes, and that she guilefully de-
nounced her own boy as an imp in order to get rid of him. In this
verdict, or rather in the considerations urged in support of it, it is
easy to perceive the effects of strong local prejudice against the

SUPERSTITION AND CRIME. 213

accused, who had the reputation of being a lazy, malicious, and
crafty person, and was therefore denied the extenuation of honest
self-deception. Indeed, in such cases it is always more or less difficult
to determine where sincere delusion ceases and conscious swindling
begins. Just at this point the annals of superstition present many
puzzling problems, the solution of which is of special interest as
well as of great practical importance not only to the psychol-
ogist and psychiater, but also to the legislator and jurisprudent,
who have to do with the enactment and administration of crimi-
nal laws.

In the penal codes of the most civilized nations the agency of
superstition as a factor in the promotion of crime is almost wholly
ignored, and, as this was not the case in former times, the omission
would seem to assume that the general diffusion of knowledge in
our enlightened age had rendered all such specifications obsolete and
superfluous. Only in the Russian penal code, especially in the sec-
tions Ulosheniye and Ustav on felonies and frauds, as cited by Lowen-
stimm, do we find a distinct recognition and designation of various
forms of superstition as incentives to crime. Thus, in paragraph
1469 of the first of these sections, the murder of " monstrous births
or misshapen sucklings " as changelings is expressly mentioned,
and the penalty prescribed; and in other clauses of the code punish-
ments are imposed for the desecration of graves and mutilation of
corpses, in order to procure talismans or to prevent the dead from
revisiting the earth as vampires, and for various offenses emanating
from the belief in sorcery and diabolical possession. The practice
of opening graves and mutilating dead bodies is quite common, and
arises in general from the notion that persons who die impenitent and
without extreme unction, including suicides and victims to delirium
tremens, apoplexy, and other forms of sudden death, as well as
schismatics, sorcerers, and witches, come forth from their graves and
wander about as vampires, sucking the blood of individuals during
sleep and inflicting misery upon entire communities by producing
drought, famine, and pestilence. The means employed to prevent
this dangerous metamorphosis, or at least to compel the vampire to
remain in the grave, differ in different countries. In Russia the
deceased is buried with his face downward, and an ashen stake driven
through his back, while in Poland and East Prussia the corpse is
wrapped up in a fish net and covered with poppies, owing, doubtless,
to the soporific qualities of this plant. Preventive measures of this
kind are often taken with the consent and co-operation of the clergy
and local authorities. Thus, in 1849, at Mariensee, near Dantzig, in
West Prussia, a peasant's wife came to the Catholic priest of the
parish and complained that an old woman named Welm, recently

214 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

deceased, appeared in her house and beat and otherwise tormented
her child. The priest seems to have accepted the truth of her state-
ment, since he ordered the corpse to be disinterred, decapitated, re-
buried at a cross-road, and covered with poppies. In 1851, during the
prevalence of cholera in Ukraine, in the governmental province of
Kiev, the peasants of Possady attributed the epidemic to a deceased
sacristan and his wife, who were supposed to roam about at night
as vampires and kill people by sucking their blood. In order to
stay the ravages of the scourge the corpses of this couple were ex-
humed, their heads cut off and burned, and ashen stakes driven
through their backs into the ground. In 1892 a peasant woman in
the Russian province of Kovno hanged herself in a wood near the
village of Somenishki. The priest refused her Christian burial be-
cause she had committed suicide, and was therefore given over to the
devil. In order that she might rest quietly in her grave and not be
changed into a vampire, her sons severed her head from her body and
laid it at her feet. In thus refusing to perform religious funeral
rites the priest obeyed the canons of the church and also the laws of
the Russian Empire. Until quite recently a corner of unconsecrated
ground next to the wall of the Russian cemetery was reserved as a
sort of carrion pit for the corpses of self-murderers, and it is ex-
pressly prescribed in the Svod Sakonov * that they " shall be dragged
to such place of infamy by the knacker, and there covered with
earth." This treatment of a felo-de-se by the ecclesiastical and civil
authorities directly fosters popular superstition by tending to con-
firm the notion that there is something uncanny, eldritch, demoniacal,
and preternaturally malignant inherent in his mortal remains, a no-
tion still further strengthened by a most unjust paragraph (1472)
in the Russian code, which declares the last will and testament of a
suicide to have no legal validity. Drought, too, as well as pestilence,
is ascribed to the evil agency of vampires, which " milk the clouds,"
and hinder the falling of the dew. In 1887 the South Russian prov-
ince of Cherson began to suffer from drought soon after a peasant
had hanged himself in the village of Ivanovka, the inhabitants of
which, assuming a causative connection between the aridity and the
self-homicide, poured water on the grave while uttering the follow-
ing words: " I sprinkle, I pour; may God send a shower, bring on a
little rainfall, and relieve us from misery! " As this invocation
failed to produce the desired effect, the body was taken up and in-
humed again in a gorge outside of the village. In some districts the
corpse is disinterred, beaten on the head, and drenched with water
poured through a sieve; in others it is burned.

* General Code, vol. xiii, edition of 1892, cited by Lowenstimm.

SUPERSTITION AND CRIME. 215

The records of the criminal courts in West Prussia during the
last half century contain numerous instances of the violation of
graves from superstitious motives. Thus in March, 1896, a peasant
died in the village of Penkuhl; soon afterward his son was taken ill
of a lingering disease, which the remedies prescribed by the country
doctor failed to relieve. It did not take long for the " wise women "
of the village to convince him that his father was a " nine-killer,"
and would soon draw after him into the grave nine of his next of
kin. The sole means of depriving him of this fatal power would be
to disinter him and sever his head from his body. In accordance
with this advice the young man dug up the corpse by night and de-
capitated it with a spade. In this case the accused, if tried in court,
might honestly declare that he acted in self-defense; indeed, he
might plead in justification of his conduct that he thereby preserved
not only his own life, but also the lives of eight of his nearest and
dearest relations, and that he should be commended rather than
condemned for what he had done. It is the possibility and sincerity
of this plea that render it so difficult to deal with such offenses
judicially and justly. Here is needed what Tennyson calls

" The intuitive decision of a bright
And thorough-edged intellect, to part
Error from crime."

Quite different, however, from a moral point of view, is the open-
ing- of graves in quest of medicaments, and especially of talismans,
which are supposed to bring good luck to the possessor or to enable
him to practice sorcery and to commit crime with impunity. In
ancient times, and even in the middle ages, physicians sometimes
prescribed parts of the human body as medicine, and in Franconia,
North Bavaria, a peasant now occasionally enters an apothecary's
shop and asks for " Armensunderfett," poor sinner's fat, obtained
from the bodies of executed malefactors and prized as a powerful
specific. The culprit was tried first for murder and then for lard,
and thus made doubly conducive to the safety and sanitation of the
community. Formerly many persons went diligently to public exe-
cutions for the purpose of procuring a piece of the criminal as a
healing salve, but since the hangman or headsman has generally
ceased to perform his fearful functions in the presence of a promis-
cuous crowd, such loathsome remedies for disease are sought in
churchyards.

In May, 1865, a Polish peasant in Wyssokopiz, near Warsaw,
discovered that the grave of his recently deceased wife had been
opened and the corpse mutilated. Information was given to the
police, and a shepherd's pipe, found in the churchyard, led to the

216 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

detection of the culprit in the person of the communal shepherd, a
man twenty-six years old, who on examination confessed that he,
with the aid of two accomplices, had committed the disgustful deed.
His object, he said, was to procure a tooth and the liver of a dead
person. He intended to pulverize the tooth and after mixing it with
snuff to give it to his brother-in-law in order to poison him. On
perceiving, however, that the body was that of a woman, he did not
take the tooth, because it would have no power to kill a man; but
he cut out the liver for the purpose of burying it in a field where the
sheep were pastured, and thus causing the death of the entire flock
in case he should be superseded by another shepherd, which he
feared might happen. All three were condemned to hard labor in
Siberia.

It is a quite prevalent notion that if any part of a corpse is
concealed in a house, the inmates will have the corresponding bodily
organs affected by disease and gradually paralyzed. A drastic ex-
ample of this superstition occurrred in May, 1875, at Schwetz, a
provincial town of West Prussia, where a woman named Albertine
Mayevski became the mother of a male child, which died soon after
its birth. The father, to whom she was betrothed, refused to marry
her, and to punish him for this breach of promise she disinterred the
body of her babe, cut off its right hand at the wrist and the genitals,
and hid them in the chimney of the house of her faithless lover,
hoping thereby to cause the hand, with which he had pledged his
vow, to wither away, and to render him impotent. All this she freely
confessed when brought to trial, and was sentenced to two months'
imprisonment. But such relics of the tomb are used, on the principle
of similia similibus, not only for inflicting injury, but also for bring-
ing luck. Thus members of the " light-fingered craft " carry with
them the finger of a corpse in order to enhance their skill, success,
and safety in thievery; if the finger belonged to an adroit thief or
a condemned criminal its talismanic virtue is all the greater. It is
also believed that a purse in which a finger joint is kept will con-
tain an inexhaustible supply of money. The finger of a murdered
man is greatly prized by burglars because it is supposed to possess
a magic power in opening locks. The records of criminal courts
prove that these absurd notions are generally entertained by common
malefactors in East Prussia, Thuringia, Silesia, Bohemia, and Poland.
A candle made of fat obtained from the human body is very fre-
quently used by thieves on account of its supposed soporific power,
since with such a taper, known in Germany as Diebslicht or Schlum-
merlicht (sloom-light in provincial English), they are confident of
being able to throw all the inmates of the house into a deep sleep, and
thus rummage the rooms at will and with perfect impunity. The

SUPERSTITION AND CRIME. 217

danger of detection is also forestalled by laying a dead man's hand
on a window sill; and in order to make assurance doubly sure, both
preservatives are usually employed. Hence the proverbial saying,
" He sleeps as though a dead hand had been carried round him." The
desire to procure material for such candles often leads to the commis-
sion of crime. An Austrian jurist, Dr. Gross, in his manual for in-
quisitorial judges (Handbuch filr Untersuchungsrichter), and the
folklorists Mannhardt and Jakushkin, give numerous instances of this
kind, and there is no doubt that the many mysterious murders and
ghastly mutilations, especially of women and children, so horrifying
to the public and puzzling to the police, are due to the same cause.
In most cases the prosecuting attorneys and judges are unable to dis-
cover the read motives of such bloody and brutal deeds because they
are ignorant of the popular superstitions in which they have their
origin, and, for lack of any better explanation, attribute them to
mere brutishness, wantonness, homicidal mania, and other vague and
unintelligible impulses, whereas in reality they spring from a su-
premely selfish but exceedingly definite purpose, are perpetrated de-
liberately, and with the normal exercise of the mental faculties, and
can not be mitigated even by the extenuating plea of sudden passion.
Crimes of this sort are of common occurrence not only in the semi-
barbarous provinces of Russia, but also in Austria and Germany,
justly reckoned among the most civilized countries of Christendom.
On January 1, 1865, the house of a man named Peck, near Elbing in
West Prussia, was entered during the absence of the family by a
burglar, Gottfried Dallian, who killed the maid-servant, Catharina
Zernickel, and ransacked the premises in search of money and other
objects of value. Before carrying off his spoils he cut a large piece
of flesh out of the body of the murdered girl in order to make candles
for his protection on future occasions of this sort. The talismanic
light, which he kept in a tin tube, did not prevent him from being
caught in the act of committing another burglary about six weeks
later. During the trial, which resulted in his condemnation to death,
he confessed that he had eaten some of the maid-servant's flesh in
order to appease his conscience. This disgusting method of alleviat-
ing the " compunctious visitings of Nature " would seem to confirm
the suggestion of a writer in the Russkiya Wjedomosti (Russian
News, 1888, ]STo. 359) that the thieves' candle is a survival of primi-
tive cannibalism, distinct traces of which he also discovers in a Rus-
sian folk song which runs as follows : " I bake a cake out of the
hands and feet, out of the silly head I form a goblet, out of the
eyes I cast drinking glasses, out of the blood I brew an intoxicating
beer, and out of the fat I mold a candle." It is certainly very queer
to find such stuff constituting the theme of popular song within the

TOL. LIT. — 16

218 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

confines of Christian civilization at the present day, a grewsome stuff
more suitable as the staple of Othello's tales

" — of the cannibals that each other eat,
The anthropophagi, and men whose heads
Do grow beneath their shoulders. 1 '

In the burglary just mentioned the murder and mutilation of the
maid were incidental to the robbery, and probably an afterthought,
but there are on record numerous instances of persons being way-
laid and killed for the sole purpose of making candles out of their
adipose tissue. No longer ago than November 15, 1896, two peasants
were convicted of this crime in Korotoyak, a city on the Don in
South Russia. Their victim was a boy twelve years of age, whom
they strangled and eviscerated in order to make candles from the
fat of the caul and entrails. It would be superfluous and tedious to
cite additional examples of this outrageous offense against humanity
and common sense, for, like the devils that entered into the Gadarene
swine, their name is Legion.

A still more disgusting and dangerous superstition is the notion
that supernatural powers are acquired by eating the heart of an
unborn babe of the male sex, just as a savage imagines that by eat-
ing the heart of a brave foe he can become indued with his valor.
The modern European cannibal believes that by eating nine hearts,
or parts of them, he can make himself invisible and even fly through
the air. He can thus commit crime without detection, and defy all
efforts to arrest or imprison him, releasing himself with ease from
fetters, and passing through stone walls. This horrible practice has
been known for ages, and is still by no means uncommon. In the
first half of the fifteenth century the notorious marshal of France,
Gilles de Laval, Baron of Rayz, is said to have murdered in his
castle near Nantes one hundred and fifty women in order to get
possession of unborn babes. He was then supposed to have com-
mitted these atrocities from lewd motives, and was also accused of
worshiping Satan. A mixed commission of civilians and ecclesiastics,
appointed to examine into the matter, found him guilty and con-
demned him to be strangled and burned on October 25, 1440. In
1429, when he was thirty-three years of age, he had fought the Eng-
lish at Orleans by the side of Joan of Arc, and it was probably the
desire to acquire supernatural powers in emulation of the maid that
led him to perpetrate a succession of inhuman butcheries extending
over a period of fourteen years, the real object of which seems to have
been imperfectly understood by the tribunal which sentenced him to
death.* Lowenstimm cites several instances of this crime. Thus, in

* A full account of the trial is given in a Latin manuscript preserved in the city
archives of Nantes.

SUPERSTITION AND CRIME. 219

1577 a man was put to the rack in Bamberg, North Bavaria, for
murdering and disemboweling three pregnant women. In the
seventeenth century a band of robbers, whose chief was known as
" King Daniel," created intense consternation among the inhabit-
ants of Ermeland in East Prussia. For a long time these free-
booters roved and spoiled with impunity, but were finally arrested
and executed. They confessed that they had killed fourteen women,
but, as the unborn infants proved to be female, their hearts were
devoid of talismanic virtue. Indeed, they attributed their capture
to this unfortunate and unforseeable circumstance, and posed as per-
sons worthy of commiseration on account of their ill luck. One of
the strangest features of this cruel and incredible superstition is its
persistency in an age of superior enlightenment. Dr. Gross records
two cases of comparatively recent occurrence in the very centers
of modern civilization: one in 1879, near Hamburg, where a woman,
great with child, was killed and cut open by a Swede named Ander-
sen, and another of like character ten years later in Simmering, near
Vienna.

An ordeal very commonly practiced in the middle ages to deter-
mine the guilt or innocence of any one accused of theft was to give
him a piece of consecrated cheese, which, if he were guilty, it would
be impossible for him to swallow. Hence arose the popular phrase,
" It sticks in his throat." Thus Macbeth says, after he had " done

the deed " :

" But wherefore could not I pronounce amen ?
I had most need of blessing, and amen
Stuck in my throat."

Wuttke states that this custom still prevails in the Prussian prov-
ince of Brandenburg, where a person suspected of larceny is made to
swallow a piece of Dutch cheese on which certain magical letters
and signs are scratched. His failure to do so is regarded as con-
clusive evidence of his guilt. Various other means of making in-
quest for the detection of crime are in vogue, some of them merely
silly, and others mercilessly savage. Thus a mirror is laid for three
successive nights in the grave of a dead man. It is placed there in
the name of God, and taken out in the name of Satan. It is believed
that by looking into such a mirror the person of the thief can be
clearly seen. A bull belonging to a peasant not far from Perm, on
the Kama, died suddenly. The owner declared that the death of the
animal was due to witchcraft, and demanded that all the women of the
village should be made to creep through a horse collar in order to
discover the hag who had wrought the mischief. This plan was ap-
proved by his neighbors, and, although their wives protested against
being subjected to the degrading and for corpulent women extremely

220 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

difficult and even dangerous test, they finally submitted to it rather
than remain under the suspicion of practicing the black art. This
performance, which is unquestionably a relic of Uralian-Finnish
paganism, took place on March 16, 1896. The following instance
may serve as an example of the ruthless barbarity to which such
delusions often lead: In December, 1874, a South Russian peasant
in the vicinity of Cherson missed one hundred rubles and went to a
weird woman in order to learn what had become of them. She con-
sulted her cards and declared that the money had been stolen by a
certain Marfa Artynov. The man was greatly astonished at this re-
sponse, because the accused was a highly respected teacher of young
children, and had the reputation of being thoroughly honest. Never-
theless, his credulity got the better of his common sense, and with
the aid of his neighbors he seized Marfa and carried her to the
churchyard, where he bound her to a cross and began to torture her,
beating her with a knout, suspending her by her hands, and twisting
and tearing her neck and tongue with a pincers. To her cries and
entreaties her tormentors coolly replied, " If you are really innocent,
what we are doing can cause you no pain! ' Many of the persons
who offer their services as clairvoyants and seers to a credulous and
confiding public, and whose utterances are accepted as oracles, are
professional swindlers. Thus a young lady moving in the higher
circles of society in Vienna had a valuable set of diamonds stolen.
By the advice of a trusted lackey she consulted a woman, who was
reputed to have the power of divination, and who informed her, con-
trary to the strong suspicions of the police, that the theft had been
committed, not by any member of the household, but by a stranger.
The young lady was so firmly persuaded of the truth of this state-
ment that, although urged by the court to prosecute the lackey,
she refused to do so. The evidence against him, however, was so
strong that he was finally tried and condemned. The pythoness,
who had endeavored to exculpate him, proved to be his aunt and
accomplice.

A queer phase of superstition, which in many parts of Europe
seriously interferes with the administration of justice, manifests itself
in the various means of avoiding the evil consequences of perjury,
at least so far as to soothe the pangs of conscience and to avert the
divine anger. This immunity is secured in some provinces of Austria
by carrying on one's person a bit of consecrated wafer, a piece of
bone from the skeleton of a child, or the eyes of a hoopoe, holding a
ducat or seven small pebbles in the mouth, pressing the left hand
firmly against the side, crooking the second finger, or pulling off a
button from the trousers while in the act of swearing, or spitting
immediately after taking an oath. The Russian province of Viatka

SUPERSTITION AND CRIME. 221

is settled by a people of Finnish origin, the majority of whom have
been baptized and call themselves orthodox Christians, while the
remainder are still nominally as well as really heathen. When they
take an oath it is administered by a pope or priest, and a Russian
jurist, J. W. Mjeshtshaninov, describes the method employed by
them to forswear themselves with safety. When called upon to take an
oath, the witness raises the right hand with the index finger extended ;
he then lays the left hand in the palm of the right hand with the
index finger pointing downward, and by a crisscross combination
of the other fingers, which probably works as a charm, the whole
body is converted into a conductor, so that the oath entering through
the index finger of the right hand passes through the index finger
of the left hand into the earth like an electric current. The wit-
ness thus feels himself discharged of the binding influence of the
oath, and may give false testimony without laying perjury upon
his soul.

The superstitions which encourage ignorant people to commit
crime are handed down from generation to generation, and have in
most cases a purely local character. In other words, the charms and
sorceries and other magical arts employed to produce the same re-
sults differ in different places, and unless the judges are familiar with
these various forms of superstition they will be unable to understand
the exact nature of the offenses with which they have to deal, and
their efforts to detect and punish violations of the law will be greatly
hampered and sometimes completely thwarted.

The subject here discussed has not only a speculative interest for
ethnographers and students of folklore, but also, as already indicated,
a practical importance for criminal lawyers and courts of justice in
the Old World and even in the United States. The tide of immigra-
tion that has recently set in from the east and south of Europe has
brought to our shores an immense number of persons strongly in-
fected with the delusions which we have attempted to describe. Acts
which would seem at first sight to have their origin in impulses of
cruelty and brutality are found on closer investigation to be due to
crass ignorance and credulity, and, although the ultimate motives are
usually utterly selfish, there are rare instances in which the per-
petrators of such deeds are thoroughly disinterested and altruistic,
and do the most revolting things, not from greed of gain, but
solely for the public good. In cases of this kind the most effect-
ive preventive of wrongdoing is not judicial punishment but
intellectual enlightenment.

■»«»

222 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

A GEOLOGICAL ROMANCE.

By J. A. UDDEN.

A WESTERN naturalist once said that the geology of Kansas
was monotonous. In one sense this remark is certainly justi-
fiable, and the same may be said about the geology of some of the
other States on the Western plains. The American continent is built
on a comprehensive plan, and many of its formations can be followed
for hundreds of miles without presenting much variation in general
appearance. Occasionally, however, some feature of special interest
crops out from the serene uniformity, and the very nature of its sur-
roundings then makes it appear all the more striking. Minor acci-
dents in the development of our extensive terranes sometimes stand
out in bold relief, as it were, from the monotonous background. In
their isolation from other details such features occasionally display
past events with unusual clearness.

Such is the case with a deposit of volcanic ash which has been
discovered in the superficial strata on the plains.* It lies scattered
in great quantities in a number of localities in Nebraska, Kansas,
South Dakota, and Colorado, having been found in no less than
twenty counties in the first-mentioned State. It measures from two
to fourteen feet in thickness in different localities, and is mostly
found imbedded in yellow marl and clay, and has a somewhat striking
appearance in the field, due to its snowy whiteness and to the sharp-
ness of the plane which separates it from the underlying darker
materials. Many years before its real nature was known it had been
noticed and described by Western geologists. Prof. O. T. St. John
saw it many years ago in Kansas, where it appeared as " an exceed-
ingly fine, pure white siliceous material," forming a separate layer
of several feet, and set off by a sharp line from the buff clay-marl be-
low. His words describe its usual appearance in other places (see
Fig. 1).

This ash occurs in several outcrops in McPherson County in the
central part of Kansas, where the writer had an opportunity to
study it somewhat in detail a few years ago. Some of the features
of the dust at this place reveal the conditions under which it was
formed with considerable distinctness, and the volcanic episode
which produced it appears strikingly different from the dull monot-

* Dr. Samuel Augbey, Physical Geography of Nebraska, 1880. Prof. J. E. Todd, Sci-
ence, April 23, 1886, and January 8, 1897. E. H. Barbour, Publication No. V, Nebraska
Academy of Sciences. J. A. Udden, The American Geologist, June, 1891, and April, 1893.
R. D. Salisbury, Science, December 4, 1896. G. P. Merril, Proceedings of the United States
National Museum, 1885.

A GEOLOGICAL ROMANCE.

223

ony of the ordinary geological work recorded in the terranes of the
plains. It may be said to consist of angular flakes of pumice, averag-
ing one sixteenth of a millimetre in diameter, and having a thickness
of about one three-hundredth of a millimetre. The most common
shape of the flakes is that of a triangle, or rather of a spherical tri-
angle, since the flakes are apt to be concave on one side and convex on

Fio. 1. — Stratified Volcanic Ash near Meade, Kansas.
(From the University Geological Survey of Kansas, vol. ii. )

the other. In the miscroscope they sometimes appear like splinters of
tiny bubbles of glass, and this is really what they are (Fig. 2).

The explosive eruptions which give rise to showers of this kind
of ash, or dust, are due to fusion and superheating of subterranean
masses of rocks charged with more or less moisture. A part of this
moisture escapes in the form of steam at the time of an eruption. But
the viscidity of the ejected material prevents much of the steam from
passing off, and such of the lava as cools most rapidly retains a cer-
tain quantity in solution, as it were. Obsidian is a rock which has
been made in this way. It often contains much of the original water,
which will cause it to swell up into a stony froth when fused.

This volcanic dust has the same property. If one small particle
of it be heated on a piece of platinum foil it is seen to swell up into

224

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

a compound bubble of glass (Fig. 3). It is evident that this is due to
the expansive force of the heated included moisture, to which the
viscid half-molten glass readily yields. At the time of the eruption
which produced this dust, subterranean heat was applied to the mois-
ture-bearing rock until this was superheated to such an extent that
the weight of the overlying material was insufficient to hold the water
from expanding into steam. Then there was a tremendous explo-
sion, and the molten magma was thrown up with such a force that
it was shattered into minute droplets, in the same way as water does
when it is thrown forcibly into the air. Being thus released from
pressure, the steam inside of each little particle of the heated glass
caused it to swell out into a tiny bubble. As this kept on expanding
it was cooled, the thin glass wall of the bubble congealed, and finally
burst from the pressure of the steam within. This is the reason

Fig. 2. — Flakes of Volcanic Ash. Magnified
about loo diameters. A, liake with a branch-
ing rib ; B, fragment of a broken hollow
sphere of glass ; C, fragment with drawn-
out tubular vesicles ; D and E, plain frag-
ments of broken pumice bubbles. (From
American Geologist, April, 1893.)

Fig. 3. — A Particle of Vol-
canic Ash swelled vv by
Fusion. Magnified UK) di-
ameters.

why the little dust particles are thin, mostly triangular, and often
slightly concave flakes with sharp angles. Sometimes the angles ap-
pear rounded, as if the fragments had been viscid enough to creep
a little after the bubble burst. The study of one single little grain
of dust, barely visible to the naked eye, thus makes clear the nature
of a catastrophe which must have shaken a whole mountain, and
which left its traces over a quarter of a continent.

That the dust was produced in this way is quite evident from
other circumstances. If a handful from the dust of this place be
thrown into water and gently stirred, it nearly all will settle after a
while. But some rather large particles remain floating on the surface.
If these are removed and examined under the microscope, they are
*w\\ to be hollow spheres (Fig. 2, b). These are some of the original
bubbles that never burst, either because they contained too little
steam or else because the steam was cooled before it had time to break
the walls open. It is evident that not every droplet of the molten
magma would form a single sphere, but that many also would swell
up into a compound frothlike mass of pumice. A few such pieces
may sometimes be observed in the deposit at this place, and that
many more were made and broken is evident from the great number

A GEOLOGICAL ROMANCE. 225

of glass fragments which have riblike edges on their flat sides
(Fig. 3, a).

The nature of the force which caused the eruption may thus be
understood from the study of one little grain of the dust, but much
more extended observations are needed in order to make out the
place where the great convulsion took place. It will, perhaps, never
be known what particular volcanic vent was the source of this ash.
Different deposits may have come from different places. But it
seems possible that it all came from the same eruption. There can
be no doubt that the volcanic disturbances occurred to the west of the
Great Plains. No recent extinct volcanoes are found in any other
direction. This conclusion is corroborated by the fact that the dust
is finer in eastern localities and coarser nearer the Rocky Mountains.
In a bed near Golden, in Colorado, seventy-three per cent, by weight,
of the dust consists of particles measuring from one fourth to one
thirty-second of a millimetre, while some from Orleans, in Nebraska,
contains seventy-four per cent of particles measuring from one six-
teenth to one sixty-fourth of a millimetre in diameter. Still finer
material comes from the bluffs of the Missouri River near Omaha.
Evidently the coarser particles would settle first, and if the dust is
finer toward the east, it must be because the wind which brought it
blew from the west. Most likely the eruption occurred somewhere in
Colorado or in New Mexico.

It may be asked how it can be known that the dust was carried
this long distance by the wind. May it not as well have been trans-
ported by water ? The answer must be, in the first place, that showers
of the same kind of material have been observed in connection with
volcanic outbursts in other parts of the world. One such shower is
known to have strewn the same kind of dust on the snow in Norway
after a volcanic eruption in Iceland, and after the great explosion
on Krakatoa, in 1883, such dust was carried by the wind several
hundred miles, and scattered over the ocean. If this ash had been
transported by water, it would not be found in such a pure state, but
it would be mixed with other sediments. There would, no doubt,
also be found coarser fragments of the volcanic products. On the
contrary, it appears uniformly fine. No particles have been found
which measure more than one millimetre in diameter, and less than
one per cent of its weight consists of particles exceeding one eighth
of a millimetre in diameter. In seven samples taken from different
places the proportions of the different sizes of the grains were about
as follows:

Diameter of grains in millimetres.
Percentage of weight of each size

i-i
0.1

i-i
0.1

1 JL _L_.-L_ --L-]-
S - ltT 16 3 2 3i O

19 37 32

1 JL

6 4 _ 1 -1*

9

1.1,

1 2*^oT>
1

226

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Flaky particles of this size are easily carried along by a moderate
wind. In some places it appears as if the dust were resting on an
old land surface where no water could have been standing when it
fell. There is really no room for doubt that it was carried several
hundred miles by the wind. It must have darkened the sky at the
time, and it must have settled slowly and quietly over the wide plains,

covering extensive tracts with a white,
snowlike mantle several feet in thick-
ness. What a desolate landscape after
such a shower! What a calamity for
the brute inhabitants of the land !

Right here in McPherson County
there was either a river or a lake at the
time of the catastrophe. This is plainly
indicated in several ways. In one place
the dust rests on sand and clay, with
imbedded shells of fresh-water clams.
It is assorted in coarse and fine layers
like a water sediment. Lowermost is a
seam of very coarse grains. These must
have settled promptly through the
water, while the finer material was de-
layed. In another place it lies on higher
ground, and here marks of sedges and
other vegetation are seen extending up
about a foot into the base of the deposit,
from an underlying mucky clay. Bog
manganese impregnates a thin layer just
above the clay, indicating a marshy con-
dition. Here also the material is some-
what sorted, but in a different way. It
is ripple-bedded. The water was evi-
dently shallow, if there was any water
at all. A burrow like that of a crawfish
extended down into the old clay bot-
tom. On a slab of the volcanic ash
itself some tracks appeared (Fig. 4).
These were probably made by an indi-
vidual of the same race in an effort to escape from the awful fate of
being buried alive like the inhabitants of Herculaneum and Pompeii.
The shower must have lasted for a time of two or three days. I
infer this from the nature of the wind changes, which are indicated
by the ripples in the dust. These still lie in perfect preservation (Fig.
5), and may be studied by removing, inch by inch, the successive

' m ■ A •%.

I

Fig. 4. — Tracks in the Volcanic
Dust, probably made by a
Crawfish. Reduced to % di-
ameter.

A GEOLOGICAL ROMANCE.

227

Fig. 5. — Eipple Marks in the Vol-
canic Dust. Reduced to 3^ diam-
eter.

layers from above downward, for it is evident that as the direction
of the wind changed, the ripples were also turned. The deciphering
of this record must be made backward. The bottom layers were
deposited first, and the excavation must
begin on top. Otherwise the record is
as perfect as if it had been taken down
by an instrument when the shower oc-
curred. It may be only local in its sig-
nificance, for it shows the direction of
the wind at this particular place alone.
The wind may have been somewhat de-
flected from the general direction by
local topographic peculiarities, though
these appear to have been of small im-
portance. In any case, the old legend
is quite interesting to read, being, I be-
lieve, the only geological record ever found of the passing of a
cyclone over the United States.

In the lowermost foot of the deposit no ripple marks can be seen.
But there appear some marks of sedges and other vegetation, and
these are inclined to the west, as if the plants had been bent by an
east wind. Just above the height to which the imprints of the vegeta-
tion extend, ripple marks begin to appear, running on a northeast-
southwest course. They were made by a southeast wind, for their
northwest slopes are the steeper. A little above this height some
peculiar small elevations appear on one of the bedding planes, and
slightly raised ridges run for a short distance to the northeast from

9m/

\&1

WE.

LIBRAR

'A*»;

Fig. 6. — Peculiar Elevations caused by a Current from the Southwest to the
Northeast. Reduced to }4 diameter.

each elevation, vanishing in the same direction (Fig. 6). A south-
westerly current was unmistakably obstructed by the little elevations,
and left the small trails of dust in their lee. Six inches higher up
the wind comes more from the south, and for the next foot the ripples
continue to gradually turn still more in the same direction so as to at
last record a due south wind. At this point it suddenly changed and

228 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

set in squarely from the west, for the ripples are turned north and
south, with the steeper slopes to the east. This direction seems to
have prevailed as long as the dust kept on falling. It appears to me
that these successive changes are best explained as attendant upon
the passage of a cyclone, or of what our daily weather maps call a
" low area." Going by from west to east, on the north, it would at
first cause an east wind. This would then gradually be turned to

the south and then to the west. One such rotation
* — ► tf of the wind generally lasts a day or two. The

shower must then have kept on at least for the
* same length of time, if not longer (Fig. 7).

1 There is reason to believe that this catastrophe

a occurred in summer. No crayfish would be out

\ making tracks during the cold months, and the

, fossil vegetation could hardly have left such plain

marks if it had been buried by the dust during the

Fig. 7.— Changes in . . » , ,

the Wind as re- winter. I he most conspicuous ot these marks are
corded by the some triangular and V-shaped molds of the stems

Ripple Marks. ,, r ^ o-t iij £ 7

and leaves 01 sedges, Siliceous skeletons of chara
and filamentous algse were also found upon a close examination in
some of these molds.

It is really difficult to appreciate the change such a shower must
have produced in the appearance of the landscape, and the effect it
must have had on animal and plant life. So far away from the vol-
canic source, the wind can not have laid down a layer of this dust
several feet in thickness without scattering it far and wide all around.
It must have covered tens of thousands of square miles. Just ima-
gine, if you can, a whole State, clad in the verdure of summer, sud-
denly, in two or three days, covered over by a blanket of white
volcanic ash! Many species of plants must have found it impossible
to grow in such a soil. And what disaster it must have caused in the
animal world ! Grazing herds had their sustenance buried from their
sight, and could save their lives only by traveling long distances in
this loose dust. Many a creature must have had its lungs or its gills
clogged with the glassy flakes floating in the water and in the air.
The sudden disappearance of several mammal species near the be-
ginning of the Quaternary age has been noted by paleontologists.
Does it seem unlikely that an event like this, especially if repeated,
may have hastened the extermination of some species of land animals?
That many individuals must have perished there can be no doubt.
Not very far away from that outcrop of the dust which I have de-
scribed, one of the early settlers in this part of the State once made a
deep well that penetrated the ash. Above the deposit, and some sixty
feet below the surface of the prairie, he found what he described as

A GEOLOGICAL ROMANCE. 229

" an old bone yard." In digging other wells in this vicinity mammal
bones have been taken up by the settlers from about the same horizon.
It is to be regretted that, with one exception, none of these fossils
have been preserved for study, for it is likely that they were the re-
mains of animals which were killed in the dust shower.

In the absence of fossils definitely known to be connected with
the ash, its exact age seems yet uncertain. In McPherson County
it is underlaid by clay, gravel, and sand, which contain remains of
the horse, of a megalonyx, and of bivalve mollusks of modern aspect.
In the bluffs of the Missouri River near Omaha pockets of a similar
ash rest on glacial clay under the loess. At the latter place it must
belong to the Pleistocene age, and at the former it can not be older
than the late Pleiocene. These two deposits may not belong to the
same shower, but it appears, at any rate, that the volcanic disturb-
ances which produced them occurred near the beginning of the
Pleistocene age.

In comparison with the slow and even tenor of the routine of
geological history, the event here sketched appears so unique and so
striking that it may well be called a geological romance. Modern sci-
ence has taught us that the geological forces are slow and largely uni-
form in their work, and that most of the earth's features must be ex-
plained without taking recourse to theories involving any violent
revolutions or general terrestrial cataclysms. While the making of
this dust is not any real exception to the law of uniformity, we are
here reminded that Nature is quite independent in her ways, and that
even in her sameness there is room for considerable diversity.

Mr. William Ogilvie, of the Topographical Survey of Canada, esti-
mates that there are more than 3,200 miles of fair navigation in the system
of the Yukon Eiver, of which Canada owns nearly forty-two per cent. A
remarkable feature of the river, with its Lewes branch, is that it drains the
Peninsula of Alaska and nearly cuts it in two, starting as it does less than
fourteen miles, '"as the crow flies," from the waters of the Pacific Ocean, at
the extreme head of the Lewes braneh, whence it flows 2.100 miles into the
same ocean, or Bering Sea, which is a part of it. The drainage basin of the
river occupies about 388,000 square "miles, of which Canada owns 149,000
square miles, or nearly half, but that half is claimed to be the most impor-
tant. As for the origin of the name Yukon, the Indians along the middle
stretches of the river all speak the same language, and call the river the
Yukonah: in English, "the great river" or "the river." The Canadian
Indians in the vicinity of Forty Mile call it '•Thetuh." a name of which
Mr. Ogilvie could not learn the meaning. The correct Indian name of the
Klondike is Troandik, meaning Hammer Creek, and refers to the barriers
the Indians used to erect across the mouth of the stream to catch salmon,
by hammering sticks into the ground.

230 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

THE SEASON OF THE YEAE.

By GKANT ALLEN.

A YEAR is, roughly speaking, the period which it takes the earth
to perform one complete revolution round the sun. I say
u roughly speaking " with due humility, having the fear of the ex-
pert ever before my eyes, because I know that if I do not sing
small, that inconvenient person, the astronomical critic, will come
down upon me at once like a wolf on the fold, with minute dis-
tinctions about the mean, the tropical, and the sidereal year; matters
of immense importance at Greenwich Observatory, no doubt, but
elsewhere of very little interest indeed, seeing that they differ from
one another by so many minutes only. Let us leave the astronomers
their own problems. The year with which I am going to deal hum-
bly here is a much more commonplace, ordinary, and comprehensible
year — the visible year of vegetation, of plant and animal life, of the
four seasons; the year as roughly known to children and savages,
and to the weeds, the flowers, the bees, and the squirrels.

It has often struck me as curious that people took this complex
concept of the year so much for granted- — inquired so little into its
origin and discovery. Yet it is by no means everywhere obvious.
How did men first come to notice, in the tropics especially, that
there was such a thing as the year at all? How did they first observe,
save in our frozen north, any fixed sequence or order in the succes-
sion of Nature? How did they learn, even here, that spring would
infallibly follow winter, and summer be succeeded in due course by
autumn? And, to go a step farther back, how did the plants and
animals, in all parts of the world alike, come originally to discover
and adapt themselves to all these things? How did the bee know
that she must " gather honey all the day from every opening flower,"
the summer through, in order to use it up as bodily fuel in winter?
How did the plants learn when to blossom and produce seed? In
one word, how did the seasons come to be automatically recog-
nized?

That they are automatically recognized, even by plants, quite
apart from the stimulus of heat or cold, drought or rain, a single
fact (out of many like it) will sufficiently prove. Trees brought
from Australia to England, where the seasons are reversed, try for
two or three years to put forth leaves and flowers in October or
November — the southern spring. It takes them several autumns
before they learn that the year has been turned upside down — that
June is now summer and December winter. This shows that life
moves in regular cycles, adapted to the seasons, but not directly de-

THE SEASON OF THE YEAR. 231

pendent upon them. The rhythm of the world has set up an organic
rhythm which now spontaneously and automatically follows it.

At first sight, to the dweller in the temperate zone at the present
day, the questions I have put above may seem needless, not to say
childish. But that is perhaps because we have all too much the
habit of taking it for granted that what is true here and now has
also been true everywhere and always. A first visit to the tropics
often enough rudely disturbs this uninquiring attitude of mind. For
in the tropics, and especially in the equatorial region, there is no
winter and no summer, no spring and no autumn. The world wags
wearily through an unending display of monotonous greenery. As
far as temperature goes, the year is pretty much alike in all its
months. Yet not only do equatorial men recognize the existence
of the year as a natural epoch quite as much as other men — not only
do equatorial savages celebrate annual feasts, count ages by years,
and perform certain rites in certain months only — but also animal
and vegetable nature recognizes the year ; trees have their month for
blossoming and fruiting, birds their month for assuming the plum-
age of courtship, for nesting and hatching, almost as markedly as
elsewhere. The recognition of the year both by man and by Nature
is not therefore entirely dependent upon the difference of summer
and winter, as such. We must go deeper, and I think, when we come
to consider geological time, much deeper, if we wish to understand
the true character of yearliness — a word which I venture here to
coin to express this meaning.

Have you ever quite realized what the tropical year is like? Sup-
pose you are living on or near the equator, then in December the
sun is south of you and at its greatest distance away; you have, so
to speak, a relative winter. But in March the sun is overhead; it is
now full midsummer. By the end of June the sun has gone north,
and is once more on a tropic; you have a second winter; not much
of a winter, I admit, but still, a relative winter. By September he
has returned overhead again, and you are enduring a second sum-
mer. In December he has once more retreated to the southern tropic
(Capricorn), and it is comparative winter. Thus the equatorial year
consists of four distinct seasons, in two of which the sun stands
directly overhead, while in two he is at his northern or southern
limit. I may add that the effect is always curious when, as you face
the sun, you see that he is moving in his diurnal path, not from left
to right (" the way of the sun," as we say), but from right to left (or
" widdershins "). You are never till then aware how natural and
inevitable has seemed the opposite direction: when you find it re-
versed the effect is surprising.

Now, the distance to which the sun travels north or south of you,

z 3 2 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

if you live on the equator — I use ordinary terms instead of astro-
nomical ones for simplicity's sake — -is so comparatively small that
within the tropics themselves you never notice much difference as
to the amount of heat between one period of the year and another.
In equatorial countries the day and night temperature is much the
same all the year round : if the country be plain, it is always hot ; if
mountainous, like the district about Bogota, it is " a perpetual
spring"; one day is always much the same as the one that went
before and the one that comes after it. Even on the actual tropics,
again, the difference is too slight to make any marked change in the
temperature; people living on the northern tropic (Cancer), for ex-
ample, have the sun vertical to them on June 21st, and some
forty-three degrees south of them on December 21st. Neverthe-
less, the sun is still as near them and as powerful as he is at Milan
or Venice in the height of summer; and the consequence is that,
as a matter of fact, the thermometer within the tropics and at sea
level seldom descends below 75° or 80°, even at midnight in the
relative winters. For the heating power of the sun depends,
of course, upon the directness of his rays, and lessens with their
obliquity; in Venice and Milan they are strong enough to make the
ground very hot in July and August, though it has been cooled be-
fore bv a northern winter; much more than in Jamaica or Mada-
gascar, which have never been cooled, does the accumulated heat
keep everything warm even when the sun is most oblique — and he
never reaches the same obliquity as in an English summer. The
ground is hot, the houses are hot, wood and stone are hot, and they
have all been hot from time immemorial.

Yet tropical and equatorial trees and plants have their definite
seasons to flower and fruit, just the same as elsewhere. This seems
surprising at first when one visits the tropics. You can not see why
everything should not flower and fruit the whole year round. And
yet, at one time pineapples are " in," at another mangoes. And
these seasons differ in the northern and southern hemispheres; what
is mango winter in the one being mango summer in the other. I
do not say the seasons anywhere in the tropics differ markedly; still,
they do differ; the tropical year is divided into times and months
for agriculture just as much as any other. Thus there are regular
dates in each hemisphere for planting, tending, and cutting the
sugar cane. Now, what is the reason of these changes in vegetation,
when temperature remains so constant? Why do not trees and
shrubs of each kind flower up and down throughout the year irregu-
larly — now one individual and now another? Why are there seasons
for things at all in the tropics?

The answer is, because the same causes which produce summer

THE SEASON OF THE YEAR. 233

and winter in temperate climate produce other changes of other
sorts in the tropical region. The temperature, it is true, remains
the same, or approximately the same; but the meteorological con-
ditions vary. Even with ourselves, summer is not only hotter but
also drier than winter; winter is marked by rain and snow as well
as by lowered temperature. In the tropics, on the other hand, it is
rather the summer or summers that are wet, for there is a certain
moving zone of equatorial calms in which it practically keeps on
raining always. But this zone is not fixed; it flits with the sun.
When the sun goes northward for the northern summer the rainy
zone goes with him; when he turns southward again the zone shifts
after him. Thus places on or near the two tropics have one rainy
season a year, while places on the equator have usually two. The
intervening dry seasons are often very dry and parched, indeed ; and
where this is markedly the case, the rainy season acts just as spring
does in the north, or as the inundation does in Egypt; it is the be-
ginning of vegetation. The plants that were dry and dormant dur-
ing the arid months wake up into fresh life; the branches put forth
new leaves; the brown seeds germinate; the flowers appear; and in
due time the fruit ripens. Everything in these cases depends upon
the recurrence of the rainy season, just as everything in India de-
pends upon the bursting of the monsoons, and everything in Egypt
on the rising of the Nile. I have seen a dry plain in Jamaica bare
and brown one day, and covered six or eight inches high with fresh
green waving guinea-grass the day but one after. The rains had
came meanwhile, and Nature had awaked with more than springlike
awakening. In those hot climates everything grows by magic as soon
as it gets the needed water.

Indeed, we may say that in half the world the seasons, organic-
ally speaking — I mean, the seasons of plant and animal life — de-
pend upon heat and cold, summer and winter, snow or sunshine ; but
in the other half they depend almost entirely upon drought and rain-
fall. Even as near home and as far north as Algeria, the summer is
far too dry and dusty for agriculture; the autumn rains set in about
October or November; they are immediately followed by the plow-
ing; and the winter becomes for .most purposes the practical sum-
mer. Eruits and vegetables are at their best in January and Febru-
ary; the fields are full of flowers up to March or April; in June,
July, and August the country is an arid and weary desert. But the
seasons for dates are almost reversed; they ripen in autumn. In
Egypt again, where everything depends upon the inundation, the
seasons are still more complicated; the inundation begins to subside
in October; in Upper Egypt the winter season which follows is far
the most important for agriculture, and crops sown as the water sub-

VOL. LIV. — 17

234 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

sides are reaped from four to seven months after. But in the Delta,
rice, cotton, and indigo are sown in the spring (March or April) and
harvested in October, [November, and December. Here, irrigation
and temperature come in as disturbing elements, for the Delta feels
something of the cold of winter.

I could give many other instances, but these will suffice. As a
general rule, we may say that in the temperate and frigid zones the
seasons for plants and animals are ruled by heat and cold, but that
in tropical and even in subtropical climates, rainfall and drought,
themselves largely due to the same circumstances, are the ruling
factors.

Again, everybody knows that winter and summer, and the other
phenomena which simulate or accompany them, such as wet and
dry seasons, depend upon the fact that the earth's axis is not perpen-
dicular to the plane in which the earth moves round the sun, but
slightly inclined to it. ISTow, a year in itself, viewed as a measure of
time, is merely the period which it takes the earth to perform one
such complete revolution. During one half of each such revolution
the north pole is turned at a considerable angle toward the sun, and
during the other half, the south pole. "When the north pole is so
turned we call it summer in the northern hemisphere; when the
south pole is being favored, and the north is receiving less light and
heat, we call it winter. Let us suppose for a moment that the earth
had not got this twist or kink in its axis; that the equator was always
presented exactly toward the sun; what then would happen? Ob-
viously, there would be no change of seasons. The day and night
would have fixed lengths which never varied ; climate would in each
place be uniform and, barring accidents of elevation or distribution
of land and water, the climate of each place would also depend en-
tirely the whole year round on its distance from the equator. Rough-
ly speaking, the temperature of a district would be the temperature it
now possesses in March and September, only not quite so cold as
March nor so warm as September, owing to the absence of accu-
mulated heat from summer or of reserves of ice and snow from
winter. In one word, under such conditions there would have been
climates — marked belts of climate; but there would not have been
seasons.

Seasons, however, depend in great part, as Mr. Alfred Russel
Wallace has ingeniously shown, on a great many things besides this
mere inclination of one end or the other of the earth toward the
sun in June and January. Much must be laid to the count of
accumulated stores of heat or cold; and though accumulated cold
is physically a misnomer, still for all practical purposes we may
apply the words fairly enough to the ice caps of the pole and the

THE SEASON OF THE YEAR.

2 35

glaciers of mountain systems. And here we come face to face with
the very core of our problem: for the odd part of it is that seasons
(at least as we know them) seem to be quite a recent and exceptional
phenomenon in the history of our planet. So far as we can judge,
geologically speaking, the earth during all its earlier life enjoyed,
over all its surface, what we should now consider tropical or sub-
tropical conditions. England — or rather the land that occupied the
part of the earth's crust where England now stands — had a vegeta-
tion of huge tree ferns and palms and cycads during the Primary
period; as late even as the middle Tertiaries it had a vegetation like
that of South Carolina or Upper India. Greenland itself, in quite
recent times, nourished like a green bay tree, and did not belie its
odd modern name. The world as a whole enjoyed perpetual summer:
In one word, except in something like the equatorial sense, there
were practically no seasons. The sun went north and south, no
doubt, as now, but the temperature, even in the relative winter,
seems to have remained perennially mild and genial.

It is true, occasional slight traces of glacial epochs, earlier than
the great and well-known Glacial epoch, break here and there the
almost continuous geological record of palmy and balmy world-wide
summers; yet, taking the geological monuments as a whole, they
show us few or no signs of anything worth calling a serious winter
till quite recent periods. Large-leaved evergreens are still, in the
day -bef ore-yesterday of geology, the order of the day ; magnolias and
liquidambars, cinnamons and holly oaks, vines and rotang palms
formed the forests even of Miocene Britain. The animals during
all the Tertiary period were of what we now regard as tropical or
subtropical types — lions, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, monkeys, or
more antique races, equally southern in aspect. There could have
been little change of winter and summer during this long warm
spell; the variations can have been scarcely more than those of dry
and rainy seasons. The trees never lost their leaves; the fruits and
flowers never ceased to follow one another; no interruption of the
food supply drove insects to hibernate in their silken cocoons, or
squirrels and bears to lay by stores of food or fat for the cold and
hungry winter.

Nevertheless, taking the world round as it stands, we must be-
lieve that the distinction of seasons grew up, both for plants and
animals, and for man or his ancestors, during this age of relatively
unmarked summers and winters. For the tropics more than any-
where else preserve for us to-day the general features and aspect of
this earlier time; they have never had the continuity of their stream
of life rudely interrupted by the enormous changes of the Glacial
epoch. Yet, even in the tropics, things, as we saw, have seasons.

236 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

There are annuals and perennials there, as elsewhere. Each kind
has its month for sprouting, for flowering, for fruiting, for shedding
its seed; and men in the tropics, some of them long isolated in oce-
anic islands, or in great insulated regions like Australia or New
Guinea, from the rest of their kind in the temperate regions, never-
theless know and observe the year, and perform all their functions,
agricultural or religious, by yearly cycles. For example, there is
among them all an annual feast for the dead, and widows mourn
their husbands for one year from their burial. Observation of the
year, therefore, both automatically by organisms at large and con-
sciously by man, antedates and is independent of observation of the
existence of summer or winter.

I do not think, however, that man would have noted the merely
astronomical year — the year of the sun's position — at least till a
relatively late stage in culture, if he had not first noticed the organic
year — the regular recurrence of plant and animal seasons. So many
yams — that is to say, so many yam harvests — in other words, so many
years, is a common savage way of reckoning times and ages. But
they call it " yams," not summers or winters. And when I say
yams, I give that merely as a single instance, for elsewhere the " seed-
time and harvest " are reckoned indifferently in maize or millet, rice
or barley, according to the agriculture of the particular people.
Even hunting races know that at certain times of year certain foods
abound; and this is true of equatorial savages and equatorial plants
or animals, as well as of others.

Moons are more obvious measures of time than suns, in the
tropics at least — probably everywhere; for the waxing and waning
of the moon mean much to people who live largely out of doors;
and the month is, perhaps, the earliest fixed mode of reckoning time
beyond a day or two. Most savages count time mainly by so many
moons. But they must also have noticed early that after a certain
number of moons (usually about thirteen), certain fruits or seeds
were ripe again; especially must they have noticed it when this
recurrence coincided with the return of the rainy season, or of some
other annual meteorological phenomenon, like the bursting of the
monsoon or the Nile inundation. Thus, even in the tropics, and be-
fore the coming on of the Glacial epoch, men or the ancestors of men
(one can not draw precise lines here) must probably have observed a
certain rough relation between the months and the vegetative cycles;
after so many moons, about say thirteen, the yam, or the mangoes,
or the grains are ripe again. These organic years, I take it, must
have been noticed before the astronomical ones. For it is now be-
ginning; to be more and more believed that man is of preglacial
origin; and even if something worth calling a man were not, then

THE SEASON OF THE YEAR. 237

at least man's pre-human ancestors go back far into the Tertiary
period. Only later would men begin to note that some thirteen
moons, and the recurrence of a food stuff, concurred with a particular
solar season.

Indeed, if one comes to think of it, how much even now do any
of us, save the most scientific, mean by the year, beyond the visible
change of summer and winter? What we are thinking of is the
leafless trees, the ice and snow, the green grass in spring, the flowers
and warm days in summer, not the abstract astronomical fact of the
earth's revolution round the sun, or the due succession of the signs
of the zodiac. It is that visible organic year that must have counted
most with man from the first; though no doubt its meaning and
reality are much more vividly present since the coming on of the
Glacial epoch, and the more so in proportion as we live nearer to the
north or south pole; while at the equator the year is to the last a
much more inconspicuous period — a largely artificial mode of reck-
oning.

Still, from the very first, there was one element of diversity in
the year which must have struck all men, in the temperate and frigid
zones at least, perhaps even in a certain way in the tropics. I mean,
the varying length of the day, always perceptible in the frigid and
temperate zones; for as soon as men in these regions began to think
and to observe at all, they must have noticed that the days increased
in their summer and lessened in their winter; and they must have
learned to correlate this waxing and waning of the day with the
appearance or abundance of certain fruits, seeds, birds, fishes, game,
roots and other food stuffs. It is at least certain that all the world
over men do now celebrate the solstices and the equinoxes as special
feasts; and the close similarity in most such celebrations leads one
to suspect that the custom has been handed down from the very
remote time when the human family was still a single continuous
body.

In the tropics, it is true, the days vary so little that this differ-
ence in itself is not likely to have struck primaeval man. But there,
another point would come in — the annual movement of the sun
overhead from south to north and vice versa; and though this would
be less directly important to human life than in temperate regions,
it would still be indirectly important. It would bring the rain with
it. In Europe, of course, and in temperate America, we can see at
once that the return of the sun northward must always have meant
spring, the increase of food stuffs, the promise of corn or maize, the
suggestion of harvest; and we can therefore understand why the
midwinter feast, when the sun after his long journey south begins
to move visibly north again, should have been both in pagan and

238 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Christian times the great festival of rejoicing for the men of the
north temperate region. Day by day they saw the sun recede and
the cold deepen; at last, one evening, he sets a little nearer, and
they know that he has not deserted them forever. Similarly, the
promise made at Yule begins to be realized at that other great feast
of the spring equinox, which we still call in England by its ancient
heathen title of Easter; the day by that time has got the better of
the night, and " the sun dances on Easter Sunday " in commemora-
tion of his completed victory over the combined powers of winter
and darkness. In the tropics, on the other hand, the connection
is less clear; but even here the shifting of the sun's apparent place is
closely correlated with the shifting of the rain zone; and therefore
it would not be long (after man was man) before tropical savages
began to perceive a constant relation between the movements of the
sun to north or south, and the occurrence of the fertilizing rainy
season. "We must remember that savages, with their improvident
habits, are much more dependent upon rain than we are, and that
magical ceremonies for breaking up a drought are among their com-
monest and most universally diffused superstitions.

On the whole, then, before the coming on of the Glacial epoch,
we may be pretty sure that plants and animals on the one hand had
learned organically and automatically to recognize the existence of
the year and to adapt themselves to it; and that men or the pro-
genitors of men on the other hand had also learned to correlate the
recurrent seasons of food supply with the movements of the sun,
though nothing equivalent to winter and summer as we know them
to-day existed as yet on any part of our planet. I say advisedly " on
any part of our planet," because even near the pole itself remains
of a subtropical vegetation in Tertiary times have been amply indi-
cated. Nevertheless, in all parts of the world then, as in the tropics
now, we may gather that plants and animals ran through annual
cycles — that the year, as I have put it, was organically recognized.
Trees had their time to sprout, to bud, to flower, to fruit, to seed,
to shed their leaves (in the evergreen way) ; birds had their time to
nest and hatch out their young; insects had their fixed periods for
laying, for larval life, for assuming the chrysalis form, for becoming
winged beetles or bees or butterflies. In one word, the year is a ter-
restrial reality, not merely an astronomical fact, in the tropics now;
it was a terrestrial reality over the whole planet in the Tertiary
period. But it was hardly more marked, apparently, into distinct
seasons than it is marked to-day in the equatorial region. Kainfall
and drought must have had more to do in determining the annual
cycles than winter and summer.

Erom all this it must result that the conception of the year as

THE SEASON OF THE YEAR. 239

an epoch at all (save for advanced astronomy) is almost or entirely
due to that tilt of the earth's axis which causes the seasons — dry or
wet, cold or hot. Without the seasons, in one form or other, we
might have been ages longer in discovering the fact that the earth
moved round the sun, and that some three hundred and sixty-five
days (I omit those important fractions) were needed for its revolu-
tion. Certainly, without the seasons, at least to the extent that they
occur in the tropics, plant and animal life could hardly have assumed
its fixed annual cycles, nor could early men have caught at the idea
of the year at all as a period of time, a unit of measurement.

Before the Glacial epoch, in particular, the discovery of the year,
organically or consciously, must have been much more difficult than
it is now in high latitudes. It must have been almost as difficult in
what are now the temperate zones as it is to-day in the tropics. Far
north or south, of course, the length of the day would tell; and
within the Arctic and Antarctic Circles the long night would form
an unmistakable feature. But if the plane of the equator had always
found itself vertical to the sun, there could have been no recognition
of the year at all, either organic or conscious. In other words, from
the point of view of organic life, the year does not mean the revolu-
tion of the earth round the sun: it means the apparent northward
and southward movement of the sun on either side of the equator;
it means the seasons, whether recognized as winter and summer, or
as dry and wet periods. That is really the year as man knows it, as
plants and animals have always known it.

With the coming on of the great cold spell, however, the im-
portance of the seasons in the temperate and frigid zones, perhaps
also even in the tropics, became much more marked. I will not go
here into the suggested reasons for that vast revolution, perhaps the
greatest our planet has ever suffered. Most physicists now accept
more or less the theory put forward with great ingenuity by Mr.
Croll, which sets it down to a period of extreme eccentricity in the
earth's orbit; but some weight must also be allowed, as Mr. Alfred
Russel Wallace has clearly shown, to the local arrangement of land
and water on the globe at the time of its origin, as well as to the
occurrence of mountain ranges just then at the poles, and to other
purely terrestrial causes. Never before, in all probability, had the
poles been occupied by great glacier-clad mountains. It seems most
likely, indeed, that we are now practically at the end of the Glacial
epoch, and that if only we could once get rid of the polar ice caps,
which keep a stock of chilliness always laid on (I speak the quite
comprehensible language of everyday life), we might recur forth-
with to the warm and almost imperceptible winters of the preglacial
period. But, as things stand, the stock of ice at the poles never gets

240 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

melted away in the existing northern or southern summer; fresh ice
accumulates on top of the old mass with each winter; prevailing
winds, blowing over this ice, chill regions lying much farther toward
the tropics; icebergs detach themselves and float off, thus lowering
the temperature of the sea in the middle zones; arctic or antarctic
currents spread round the coasts and absorb the solar heat in enor-
mous quantities. We have only to remember the trenchant differ-
ence in England between a parching cold east wind and a mild sou'-
wester to realize what an immense part these polar ice caps and
frozen highlands play in the production of our existing winter.
Alps, Pyrenees, Himalayas, Rocky Mountains, further assist in the
same direction.

On the other hand, currents in the sea may cut either way; the
Gulf Stream makes England warm, while the arctic current makes
Labrador, much farther south, practically uninhabitable.

Ever since the Glacial epoch, therefore, it has been quite easy
for man in the temperate and frigid zones to recognize the year as
a natural reality. The annual cycles of heat and cold are far too
marked to be overlooked by anybody. Organically, they made them-
selves felt at once by extraordinary changes induced in the fauna
and flora. Before the steady advance of the annual cold wave,
vegetation had perforce to alter its ways. The large-leaved ever-
greens went out altogether in frigid and high temperate regions; de-
ciduous trees, or needle-leaved types like the pines and firs, took the
place of the luxuriant Miocene foliage in Europe and North Amer-
ica. Every autumn the larger number of trees and shrubs learned
to shed their leaves all togeher; every spring they came out anew
in fresh green and in masses of blossom. Similarly with animals.
Birds learned to migrate, or to accommodate themselves to the win-
ter; insects learned to hibernate in the egg or the cocoon; pigs fat-
tened themselves on mast against the frozen time; moles slept over
winter; squirrels hoarded nuts for a store to bridge over heavy
frosts; frogs retired to the warmer mud in the depths of ponds;
adders coiled themselves in holes and dozed away the cold season.
Innumerable adaptations sprang up at once, those species or indi-
viduals which failed to meet the new conditions perishing in the
struggle. In proportion as we recede from the tropics, the more
marked do the annual cycles of life thus induced become, many
species practically ceasing to exist as such for several months of the
year, and being only potentially represented by eggs, germs, or seeds,
and sometimes by dormant pregnant females.

At the same time, while the cause of the seasons as a whole is
the obliquity of the earth's axis, with the resulting inclination of
either pole toward the sun alternately, we must not forget that the

THE SEASON OF THE YEAR. 241

seasons and the climate in each particular country depend in part
upon many minor contributory causes. It is not merely nearness
to or distance from the equator that counts; we have to consider
also relative distribution of land and water, elevation, prevalent winds,
exposure, condensation, and many other elements of a complex prob-
lem. In Ecuador, for example, whose very name means the equator,
the plain is always in scorching summer, the mountains are always in
perpetual spring. The monsoons, again, produce in other countries
some curious results: they depend themselves on the change of rela-
tive temperature in sea and land at different seasons; and they break
upon the Himalayas with this odd and unexpected effect, that the
snow line on the southern side of that vast range goes very far down,
owing to the immense rainfall (or rather snowfall) and the conse-
quent spread of snow fields and glaciers; while on the northern side
it descends but a very little way, owing to the extreme desert drought
and the great summer heat of the central Asiatic table-land. We
have thus the apparent paradox that millions of Tibetans occupy
towns and cultivate farms to the north at a height from three to four
thousand feet above the snow line on the southern slope of the same
mountains.

Looking at the matter broadly, then, and taking for granted the
now generally accepted modern view that the great oceans and great
continents have been relatively fixed (though liable to minor fluctua-
tions and variations of outline) throughout all geological time, and
that the earth's crust has not shifted from pole to equator or vice
versa, we arrive at last at the following probable conclusions: There
have always been seasons more or less marked, and these have been
more or less organically answered by corresponding changes or cycles
of change in plants and animals. Rain and drought have in many
cases more to do with such changes than variations of temperature.
The seasons, again, are less marked in the tropics than in temperate
and circumpolar climates. Nevertheless, even near the equator, they
exert and have always exerted certain organic influences — have re-
sulted in annual cycles in the life of species. Even before the coming
on of the Glacial epoch, the seasons were probably somewhat more
marked in the temperate and polar regions than in the tropics, the
longer day in summer and the greater directness of impact of the
rays making the summer months always warmer. But for various
reasons, among which we may presumably rank the absence in early
ages of high land at the poles and of an accumulated polar ice cap,
together with the existence of warm sea currents from the tropics
to the poles, the winters of preglacial ages seem to have been rela-
tively mild, perhaps (if we may judge by the types of plant life)
milder than those of South Carolina and Georgia in our own period.

VOL. LIV. — 18

242 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

'No cold winds of importance seem then to have blown with blighting
effect from glaciated or snow-clad districts. (Mars in our own time
appears to enjoy winters somewhat of this character, though a little
colder, with a temporary snow cap.) The seasons as we know them
in temperate and arctic climates, however, seem to be largely the
result of the glacial epoch, and its persistent legacy the arctic and
antarctic ice caps. If we could once manage to get rid of those, it is
possible that our planet might again enjoy in all its zones the mild
and genial preglacial winters.

These are rough notes, 1 know; mere adumbrations of a probable
truth: but adequately to develop the subject would require a very
big volume. My object here is simply to suggest that in many in-
quiries, both into human and animal or vegetable life, we must never
take the existence of seasons as we know them for granted, except in
very recent times. The year, for organic beings, means essentially
the seasons; and the seasons may mean and have meant many sepa-
rate things, as time and place vary — heat and cold, food and scarcity,
foliage and leaflessness, drought and wet; longer or shorter days, the
midnight sun and the winter darkness; hibernation and wakefulness;
the egg, the cocoon, the seed, the plant, the flower, the fruit; dor-
mancy or vitality. According as human life started at the poles or
the equator, for instance, it would view in the beginning many things
differently. All I wish to point out now is merely this, that we must
bear such possibilities ever in mind; and that we must never take it
for granted in any problem, human or biological, that the seasons
were always just what we know them, or that the year to any organic
being meant anything more than the seasonal cycle then and there
prevalent. — Longman's Magazine.

In the excavations of the ancient cemetery of Antinoe, near Lyons,
France, a " party dress " of the time of the Emperor Adrian, very fine silks,
jewels, etc., have been discovered. One sarcophagus held the remains of a
woman musician with a rose chemise, a cythara, pearls, castanets, etc. ; in
another was a child's costume with its little laced shoes, its vest ornamented
with flowers appliques, and its robe of gauffered crape. It appears that the
women of sixteen hundred years ago dyed their hair with henna, and
twisted ribbons round their heads. Nothing changes.

M. A. Thieullen, publishing the results of fifteen years' studies among
the flint implements of the French beds, draws the conclusions that the
elaborate palaeolithic flint axe and hammer and the typical neolithic imple-
ments were luxuries used by the more distinguished members or for the
more important purposes of the flint-implement-using community, while
the ruder implements which are found in enormous numbers were the
objects of general and daily use throughout all the flint-using ages, whether
palaeolithic or neolithic.

BRAIN WEIGHTS AND INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY. 243
BRAIN WEIGHTS AND INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY.

By JOSEPH SIMMS, M. D.

HAVING been for thirty years a lecturer 011 man and his char-
acter as evinced by his form, features, head, and gestures, and
having made observations on the subject in all parts of North Amer-
ica, in continental Europe and Great Britain, and parts of Asia,
Africa, and Australia, I should not be deemed presumptuous when I
present a few facts regarding the relations of mind and the size and
forms of heads and weights of brains. It has been observed by many
persons versed in the branches relating to the subject that men with
the largest brains are not those of most talent, power, or intellect; but
many such have been only ordinary or inferior men, or even idiots;
while some men of most powerful and comprehensive minds have
had unusually small brains. Esquirol's assertion that no size or form
of head or brain is incident to idiocy or to superior talent is borne
out by my observations.

After long and careful research in the great libraries and mu-
seums of the world, I have collected a table of brain weights of
eminent men, along with which are entered, in my original docu-
ment, the occupation of the subject, age at the time of determination,
and the source whence the item is derived. These can not be given
within the limits of this article, and only the briefest and most gen-
eralized summary of the main features can be indicated. The largest
weight of brain in the whole list is that of the Russian novelist Tur-
genieff, whose brain weighed, at the time of his death, at sixty-five
years of age, 71 ounces.* It is a considerable step from him to the
next in order, the English mechanician and author, Knight, whose
brain weight at the age of fifty-eight was 64 ounces. Then follow
the Scottish physician Abercrombie, 63 ounces; General B. F. But-
ler, 62 ounces; and the Scottish general Abercromby, 62 ounces.
Another group of nine, including weights from 58.6 ounces to 54
ounces, includes Jeffrey, Scottish judge and author, Thackeray,
Cuvier, George Combe, United States Senator Atherton, Spurzheim,
and the Scottish physician Simpson. The next group, 53.6 to 50,
is larger, including twenty-one names, among which are Daniel
Webster, Agassiz, Napoleon I, the Scottish divine Chalmers, the
mathematicians De Morgan and Gauss, the anthropologist Broca,
and the generals Skoboleff and Lamarque. The last group, 49.9
to 40 ounces, contains twenty-five names, including those of the
philosopher Huber, Grote, Babbage, the anthropologist Bertillon,

* Medical Times and Gazette, Loudon, England, November 1*7, 18S3.

244 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Whewell,* Liebig, Gall, Gambetta, and Bishop, tbe mind reader.
Only one remove from tbe foot of tbe list is Gambetta, a man of
indisputably bigb genius and ability, witb a brain weigbing only
40.9 ounces, f

Tbe table goes to illustrate a general rule which I discovered and
published several years ago, tbat larger brains appertain to natives of
colder climates. Dr. John Abercrombie, for instance, was born at
Aberdeen, Scotland, on tbe German Sea, and farther nortb tban
any part of tbe United States. Sir Ralph Abercromby was born in
the county of Clackmannan, Scotland, where it is far colder than
any part of southern Europe. Lord Francis Jeffrey first saw light in
Edinburgh. General Butler was born in Deerfield, ISTew Hampshire.
Ivan Turgenieff, with the heaviest brain of all, was a native of cold,
inhospitable Russia. Dr. Franz Joseph Gall (brain weight 42.2
ounces) % was born in Wiirtemberg, in southern Germany, passed
most of his life in Vienna and Paris, and, being a student, spent
much of his time indoors. Gambetta was born at Cahors, France, of
Italian parents. This climatological view of the size of brains is con-
firmed by a paper, " Crania," of the Philadelphia Academy of Sci-
ences, which gives as the average size, in cubic inches, of the cranial
cavities of various nationalities, taking the results of many measure-
ments: Lapps, 102; Swedes, 100; Anglo-Saxons, 96; Finns, 95;
Anglo-Americans, 94; Germans, 92; Celts, 88; Malays, 86; Chinese,
85; Tombs of Gizeh, 84; embalmed Semitic, 82; Egyptians, 80;
Fellah, 79; Bengalese, 78.

A table of average brain weights of various nationalities, com-
piled from Topinard's and Manouvrier's works and other standard
anthropological publications, illustrates the same tendency toward
greater brain weights in colder countries. One of its results is to
show that the colder air of the United States produces larger brains
in the negroes than the warm air of Africa. The table further shows,
in the comparisons of Hindus and African negroes, that the brains
are smallest in the warmest countries, irrespective of race or nation;
and that the largest average attained is in Scotland, where it is never
extremely warm.

The measurement of the cranial cavity is a very uncertain gauge
of the size of the brain, for the cerebro-spinal fluid may occupy a
large share of the space. Weighing the brain is without doubt
the only scientifically certain method of determining its size and
mass.

* Whewell also had " the scalp and skull thick." Brain weighed 49 ounces. The
Lancet, London, England, March 11, 1866, p. 280.

+ Medical Times and Gazette, London, England, May 12, 1883, p. 525.
% London Medical Gazette, London, England, September 13, 1828, p. 4*78.

BRAIN WEIGHTS AND INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY. 245

Perhaps the most remarkable case in the table of great men's
brains is that of Gambetta, who was behind none of his compeers in
ability, and yet had the smallest brain of all. The first table of the
" Average Weight of the Human Body and Mind," compiled from
Dr. Boyd's researches among the sane, which was based on more than
two thousand post-mortem examinations, gives 45.9 ounces as the
average brain weight of boys from seven to fourteen years of age,
and 40.2 ounces as that of boys and 40.1 ounces of girls from four
to seven years of age. And this little brain of 40.9 ounces apper-
tained to a man, " a lofty, commanding, mental figure, standing out
in bold relief from the crowd of mediocrities which he dwarfs and
shadows," the embodiment of the French Republic, who steered it
through one of its most perilous crises, " the foremost Frenchman of
his time," who " established his claim to be placed in the very front
rank of European statesmen," and whose untimely death was spoken
of as " nothing less than the sudden extinction of a powerful indi-
vidual force, one of the most powerful, indeed, of such forces hitherto
operating in Europe."

In illustration of the association of large brains with small minds,
we have compiled from various sources of recognized authority a list
of one hundred and twenty-five persons of ordinary or weak minds,
idiots, imbeciles, and criminals, whose brains were generally larger
than those of the distinguished men subjects of the preceding notes.
Of these, Rustan, an ignorant and unknown workman, appears with
a brain weighing 78.3 ounces; * the dwarfed Indian squaw who fol-
lows him, of 73.5 ounces ;f an illiterate and weak-minded man had a
brain of 71.3 ounces; % and a congenitally imbecile person cited by
Dr. Ireland, with one of 70.5 ounces.* Another imbecile cited by Dr.
Ireland had a brain of 63.2 ounces, and the brain of an idiot with a
large head, eighteen years old, who had an idiotic sister, weighed 62.8
ounces. The brain of the idiot, JSTo. 56 of the men in the table,
59.5 ounces, is exceeded in size by those of only five on the list of
famous men, while eleven persons recorded as idiots, imbeciles, and
children had brains heavier than his. An idiot boy of fourteen years,
very malicious, who never spoke, and who nearly killed his sister
with a pick, had a brain weight of 57.5 ounces. Thirty men out of
three hundred and seventy-five examined in the West Riding Asy-
lum gave brain weights of 55 ounces and upward, showing that
such weights are not so rare as some have supposed. In another

* Brain Weight of Man. By Dr. Bischoff. Bonn, Germany, 1880, p. 13V.

f Authority for this weight is the Medical Army Museum, Washington, D. C.
% This brain is kept in and its weight is recorded on the glass jar in the Pathological
Museum at Munich, Germany.

* Idiocy and Imbecility. By Dr. Ireland. London, 1S11, p. *75.

246 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

asylum in England one out of every dozen brains examined showed
a weight of 55 ounces or more.

In Nachrichten, of Gottingen, 1860, pp. 70-71, Dr. Rudolph
"Wagner gave a table of thirty-two persons whose brains he ex-
amined, among whom were five distinguished men; but the largest
brain weight recorded in it, 55.9 ounces, has opposite to it the legend,
" Idiotic grown man."

To this list we might have added a large number of persons whose
brains weighed less than 53 ounces. Yet the brains of Daniel Web-
ster, Agassiz, Xapoleon I, Lord Byron, Baron Dupuytren, General
Skoboleff, and other famous men concerning whose large brains
much has been said, weighed less than this; and we might have
appended hundreds of brain weights of idiots, imbeciles, and other
insignificant persons, from 53 ounces down to 49 ounces — probably
about the average weight in central Europe. In support of our con-
tention is, further, an observation by Dr. Rudolph Wagner in
Nachrichten, February 29, 1860, pp. 71, 72, that " very intelligent
men certainly do not differ strikingly in brain weight from less
gifted men."

Dr. Clendenning presents in the Croonian Lectures the following
entries of brain weights of male subjects of different ages, the tend-
ency of which is to show that the male encephalon loses, after it is
grown, more than an ounce every ten years:

15 to 30 years 50.75 ounces.

30 to 50 " 49.66 "

50to 70 " 47.1

70tol00 " 41.5 "

A number of other eminent anatomists have given similar evi-
dence of decrease in brain weight as intellectual power increases.

The "Professor at the Breakfast Table," the late Dr. O. W.
Holmes, a learned man and experienced physician and professor of
anatomy in Harvard University for thirty-five years, says : " The
walls of the head are double, with a great chamber of air between
them, over the smallest and most crowded organs. Can you tell
me how much money there is in a safe, which also has thick walls, by
kneading the knobs with your fingers? So, when a man fumbles
about my forehead, and talks about the organs of individuality, size,
etc., I trust him as much as I should if he felt over the outside of
my strong box, and told me that there was a five-dollar or a ten-
dollar bill under this or that rivet. Perhaps there is, only he doesn't
know anything about it. We will add that, even if he knows the
inward dimensions of the strong box, he could not thence determine
the amount of cash deposited in it."

The internal size of Spurzheim's skull was in cubic inches exactly

BRAIN WEIGHTS AND INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY. 247

the same as that of the skull of Joachim, an imbecile six feet nine
inches in height, with a brain weight of 61.2 ounces, whereas Spurz-
heim's brain weighed only 55 ounces.

Whoever has examined heads in the dissecting room of a medical
college knows that, except in rare cases of disease, the brain does
not fit the skull, but is surrounded by three membranes and a watery
fluid; and this liquid, it has been ascertained, is generally sufficient
to admit of its performing certain movements.

There can be no doubt that the brain moves in the skull, changing
its position, according to the laws of gravitation, in much the same
way as the lungs, heart, and liver do in the body. It has been
observed many times to move, as well as to pulsate, when exposed to
view during the life of the individual. It is subject to two regular
and constant motions — one produced by the arteries, the other by
respiration. It has also a third motion, discovered and described by
Dr. M. Luys, who stated, in a paper read before the Academy of
Medicine of Paris, that " the brain is subject to certain changes of
position, dependent on the attitude of the body. Thus, if a man lies
on his back or side, or stands on his head, the brain undergoes certain
changes of position in obedience to the laws of gravity; the move-
ments take place slowly, and the brain is five or six minutes in
returning to its previous position." From these anatomical data
M. Luys deduced some interesting and practical conclusions, by
which he explained, for example, the symptoms of vertigo which
feeble persons experience when suddenly rising from a horizontal
position. He suggested whether the pains of meningitis may not be
due to an interference with these normal movements, and urges the
value of giving the brain the change produced by a horizontal posi-
tion at night.

The average cranial capacity is admitted to be 96 cubic inches in
England and 94 in New York; and it is to the unusual quantity of
fluid of some cases, and to the extraordinary thickness of the skull
in others, that we are to attribute the frequent discrepancy between
the external dimensions and the size of the encephalon. Daniel
Webster's cranial capacity was 122 cubic inches, yet his brain
of 53.5 ounces was just what George Combe has laid down
as the average weight for an adult man. Water and lymph,
we are told, filled the skull. Professor De Morgan's head, almost
free from hair, measured 24.87 inches in circumference, and
the dimensions were all those of a very large head, sufficient to
contain from 65 to TO ounces of brain, yet his brain weighed only
52.75 ounces, or little, if at all, above the average in the cold parts
of the temperate zones. De Morgan was sixty-five years of age when
he died. He was much emaciated, and " the brain was distinctly

248 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

shrunken," not filling the interior cavity, where its place was sup-
plied, as is usual in such cases, by serum or water. There is no
known method whereby any man can determine whether brain or
water fills the greater part of any living skull. A small orange may
have a thin rind, and contain a good amount of eatable substance,
while a large one may have so thick a skin that the fruit proves
utterly disappointing.

Another proof that the skull is formed without regard to the
brain is the following: " The bony cabinet and its contents are de-
veloped, to a certain extent at least, independently. This is very
clearly demonstrated by a fact which was observed by Gratiolet, and
is too frequently forgotten. The subject is an infant in whom the
cranium presented the normal conformation. The brain was, never-
theless, almost entirely wanting." *

Dr. Gall was a poor arithmetician, and his biographer says that
every kind of numerical calculation fatigued him. He could not go
through a process of multiplication or division that was at all com-
plicated, and knew nothing of geometry or of the problems of
mathematics. f George Combe said of himself: "Arithmetic has
always been to me a profound mystery, and to master the multiplica-
tion table an insurmountable task. . . . This faculty in me is, in fact,
idiotic." Again he said: "When a boy, I never could learn arith-
metic. At the end of five years' teaching I could not subtract,
divide, or multiply any considerable number of figures with accuracy
and facility, and can not now do so. . . . At the present day I can
not sum a column of figures correctly." %

With these facts in view, our wonder at finding the theories of
these men at variance with all exact calculation is considerably
diminished. We propose to test some of their theories by arith-
metical processes. We found that the sixty famous men entered in
the table of authenticated brain weights show an average of 51.3
ounces. We now take all the idiots and imbeciles in the table of
" Large Brains and Small Minds," and find the average 59.4 ounces;
so that the matter is left to stand thus: Ten idiots and five imbeciles
average 59.2 ounces; sixty famous men average 51.39 ounces: in
favor of idiocy and imbecility, 7.9 ounces.

The heaviest brain in the table of small minds is that of Rustan,
an ignorant and entirely unknown laborer. He was a healthy man,
and his brain, when it was weighed, was in a healthy condition. Its
weight was recorded by Dr. Carl A. Rudolphi, a Swedish naturalist

* The Human Species. By A. De Quatrefages. D. Appleton and Company, New
York, 1884, p. 380.

f Dr. Gall's works, Boston, Massachusetts, vol. i, p. 36.
% Life of George Combe, London, 1878, vol. ii, p. 381.

BRAIN WEIGHTS AND INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY. 249

and physiologist of Stockholm, who became professor of anatomy
and physiology at Berlin in 1810. It reached the unexampled
figure of 78.3 ounces; while the brain of Turgenieff, the heaviest
among famous men, was 71 ounces — showing a difference of 7.3
ounces in behalf of the inferior mind.

Since writing the above, the following appeared in Tit-Bits, a
weekly paper published in London, England, March 19, 1898:

" It must not be assumed, however, that intellect is in direct
ratio to the weight of the brain; for while the brains of certain in-
tellectual men, such as . . . Dr. Abercromby, weighed more than
60 ounces, a certain Strand newspaper-boy, who was in intel-
ligence almost an idiot, had a brain which weighed no less than 80
ounces."

Dr. Austin Flint, of New York, in his Physiology, gives the
average weight of the brains of men as 50.2 ounces. Dr. Peacock,
of Great Britain, makes it 50 ounces 3 drachms between twenty-
five and fifty years of age. Dr. Thurman gives 49 ounces as the aver-
age throughout Europe, while Dr. F. Tiedemann, a famous natural-
ist of Germany, reckons it at 53.2 ounces.* Dr. Krause, a learned
German, places it still higher, at 55.4 ounces. f Now, if we strike a
balance between the highest and the lowest of these estimates, the
mean will be 52.2. Then, recalling the average of our sixty famous
men, which we found to be 51.3 ounces, it is shown to be nine
tenths of an ounce below the average of ordinary men.

Our tables of national average brain weights do not quite agree,
because some of the subjects had been wasted by disease for many
months before death, whereby the brain was diminished along with
other parts of the body. Those who, like Dr. Boyd's subjects, died
in hospital, showed too light an average for healthy Englishmen.
Dr. Krause's subjects may have been healthy men killed in battle,
and those of Tiedemann persons who died suddenly. Executed
criminals show a fairly high average of brain weight, because there
has been in their case no diminution through long-continued illness.:}:
We should recollect that Whewell, the famous English philosopher
and head master of Trinity College, Cambridge, England, was in
good health when killed by a fall, from his horse ; so was Gambetta,
when his life was ended by a pistol shot. The brain, however,
suffers less from the power of disease than the general bodily form.
One month under the most wasting sickness would probably not

* Medical News and Gazette, London, June 16, 1888, p. 521.

f Morning Herald, Sydney, Australia, February 23, 1884.

\ Eleven Chinamen, found by Dr. C. Clapham to afford an average of 50.4 ounces, had
been killed in a typhoon, and were therefore in no wise wasted by disease. (Journal of the
Anthropological Institute, London, England, vol. vii, p. 90.)

250 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

diminish the brain more than an ounce or two, but a year or more
would make a considerable difference.

Taking, now, the sixty heaviest brains of persons not noted for
intellectual greatness, we find the averages to be 63.2 ounces. Com-
paring this with the average of sixty famous men, 51.3 ounces, we
find a difference in favor of imbeciles, idiots, criminals, and men of
ordinary mind of 11.9 ounces. George Combe estimated that about
53.5 ounces was the average weight of the adult brain. Thus the
average brain weight of all the eminent men whom we have brought
into the comparison, 51.3 ounces, is below Combe's estimate of that
of mankind in general. Again, the ten heaviest brains of our list of
famous men give an average weight of 61.1 ounces, while the aver-
age given by the ten heaviest of the opposite class is 70.4 ounces, or
9.3 ounces greater. While our list of eminent men shows only five
whose brains exceeded 58.6 ounces in weight, those of seventy-six
of the common throng — seven of them idiots or imbeciles — rise above
that figure. These figures augur badly for the doctrine that would
attach importance to heavy brains for giving force and depth of
individual character.

Phrenologists assert that each organ of a mental faculty occupies
a certain position perceptible on the outside of the brain, with a
definite area which they have mapped out. .They also hold that each
of these organs extends to the center of the base of the brain, taper-
ing to it somewhat like a cone, having its base turned toward the
outer world. They make no account of the fissures, the intervening
sulci and anfractuosities that must cut many of these supposed cones,
some at right and some at oblique angles. Then the large, long
cavities or ventricles intercept and would hinder many of them from
reaching the central, basilar part of the brain. The anatomical
structure of the brain thus appears fatal to this theory of the organs.

Large and complicated convolutions of the brain with deep sulci
have been regarded by some persons as inseparable from superior
powers of mind. The supposition is erroneous and groundless. The
rodents, such as beavers, squirrels, rats, mice, etc., have but little
brain and no convolutions whatsoever; * yet the beaver exhibits
great foresight, economy, industry, and mechanical skill in building
his dam, erecting his house, and storing up bark as food for the
winter. Moreover, these animals live in societies and labor in union
by ingenious methods for a common purpose, with nice judgment.
" So great a variety of labors," says Dr. Leuret, " is needed for the
constructions carried on by the beaver; they include so many in-
stances of well-made choice, so many accidental difficulties are sur-

* The Nervous System, London, 1834, p. 447.

BRAIN WEIGHTS AND INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY. 251

mounted by these animals, that it is impossible not to recognize in
their actions the characteristics of a rather high intelligence." * The
sheep has a much larger brain than the beaver, with numerous and
complete convolutions, yet it is one of the most stupid of domestic
animals. Again, though birds have convolutions in the cerebellum,
they have none in the cerebrum, and yet they are more capable of
education than any living beings except the human race. The eagle
is complete master of the lamb; the magpie, the hawk, the raven, and
the parrot with his talking powers, are not excelled in sagacity by the
dog, the horse, or the elephant, notwithstanding the latter animals
have brains of superior size and elaborate convolutions.

Squirrels manifest foresight and economy in storing nuts for the
winter's use; yet they have no brain convolutions. The cetacea,
especially whales, have much larger brains than men, with more
numerous and more complex convolutions and deeper sulci; yet
their intelligence bears no comparison with that of the human race.

Three eminent men are known to have had very small convolu-
tions of the brain — viz., Louis Asseline, Dr. Tiedemann, and Baron
von Liebig. We have to add to this remarkable list two, not named,
but described by Dr. Wagner as having been very intelligent, who
yet possessed very few convolutions in their very small brains, f As
Wagner's book was printed before Liebig died, he could not have
been one of the two to whom the author referred.

Idiots often possess as large brains as men distinguished for intel-
lectual power, and their brains have as deep sulci, and convolutions as
fine, as large, and as complex. Our table of the common and weak-
minded contains a mention of an idiot whose brain weighed 53
ounces, or exactly as much as Napoleon's, and had fine convolutions
and a large frontal lobe, but who could never learn to speak.

The elephant carries a far larger brain than man, finely formed,
broad and high in front, with much more numerous and complex
convolutions and deeper anfractuosities, and yet no intelligent person
would for a moment claim that its mind excels or even equals that
of man.

It may be well here to allow some eminent physiologists to give
their views on this subject. " The researches of anatomists have
disposed of every point advanced by Gall. Curiously enough, M.
Camille Dareste has placed beyond dispute the fact that the number
and depth of the convolutions bear no direct proportion to the de-
velopment of intelligence, whereas they do bear a direct proportion

* Anatomie comparative du systeme nerveux, tome i, 1839, p. 506.

f Ueber die typischen Yerschiedenheiten der Windungen der Hemisphiiren und iiber
Lehre von Hirngewicht, Gottingen, 1860. Also see Pathology and Therapeutics of Mental
Diseases, London, 1870, p. 23.

2 5 2 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

to the size of the animal. ... It is notorious that the instinct of
propagation, the instinct of destructiveness, the instinct of construct-
iveness, and other qualities are manifested by animals having no
brains, nothing but simple ganglia." *

Dr. Bastian demonstrates the convolutional theory thus : " In
animals of the same group or order, the number and complexity of
the convolutions increase with the size of the animal. . . . There
can not, therefore, be among animals of the same order any simple
or definite relation between the degree of intelligence of the creature
and the number or disposition of its cerebral convolutions." f

We have the following testimony in our favor from Dr. Rudolph
Wagner, of Gottingen: "Examples of highly complicated convolu-
tions I have never seen, even among eminent men whose brains I
have examined. . . . Many convolutions and great brain weight
often go together. Higher intelligence appears in both kinds of
brains, where there are many or where there are few convolutions.
It is not proved that special mental gifts go with many convolu-
tions." %

Another theory of mind is based on the gray matter of the brain,
the amount of which has been supposed to be proportionate to
mental capacity. As this gray matter, however, averages only about
one fifth of an inch in thickness, it seems rather a thin foundation
for the human intellect if the condition is good that " size is a
measure of power."

The late Dr. W. B. Carpenter stated the matter thus: "The
cortical substance or gray matter of the hemispheres essentially con-
sists of that vesicular nerve substance which, in the spinal cord as
in the ganglionic masses generally, is found to occupy the interior.
The usual thickness is about one fifth of an inch; but considerable
variations present themselves in this respect, as also in the depth of
the convolutions." tt

Daniel Webster's brain had gray substance to the depth only of
one sixteenth of an inch.|| It thus appears that his brain had a
thinner layer of gray matter than the average of common-minded
men — one among the many proofs that facts are against all theories
that connect brain conditions with intellectual power.

Dr. Ireland thus describes an idiot boy who, though thirteen or
fourteen years of age, was only three feet eight inches in height : " In
expression he was dull and inanimate, with an old face and a short,

* History of Philosophy, London, 1867, vol. ii, p. 433.

f The Brain as an Organ of Mind, London, 1880, pp. 276, 277.
\ Nachrichten, Gottingen, February 29, 1860, p. 75.

* Carpenter's Principles of Human Physiology, London, 1881, p. 659.
| Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, 1853, vol. lxxix, p. 360.

BRAIN WEIGHTS AND INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY. 253

squat figure. . . . The convolutions were broad and simple, but not
shallow. The gray matter was as broad as usual." *

The writer has examined many brains of persons morally or intel-
lectually below the average — such as murderers, negroes, and others
sunk in ignorance. He has invariably found the layer of vesicular
or gray matter to be thicker than that of Daniel "Webster's brain.
Elephants, porpoises, whales, dolphins, and the grampus all have this
layer thicker than the most intellectual men. Another great objec-
tion to locating mind in the gray matter of the brain is that this
substance is found in the interior part of the spinal cord, and in all
the nerve centers throughout the body; so that, if mind is situated in
it, it is not confined to the brain, but dwells in the spine also,
and is distributed all through the human frame. Still another
objection lies in the fact that wherever the gray matter exists near
the surface of the brain, it consists of three distinct layers, separated
by a white substance, and the outermost layer is white, not gray.f

The septum lucidum consists of gray matter. The corpus stria-
tum, situated at the base of the lateral ventricles, nearly in the center
of the brain, was from three eighths to half an inch in diameter in
an ox which was dissected in Edinburgh. This is about the same
amount as is found in the corpus striatum of the human brain.
There would be lively times if it were possible for a mental faculty
to occupy at once all the localities where gray matter is found !

ISTone of the suppositions about certain qualities of mind inhering
in particular portions of the brain have been proved, nor have they
stood the tests of science.

The theories which have assumed that the cultivation of the intel-
lect gives shape and size to the brain within and consequently to
the skull without, advocates of which have not been wanting, have
been disproved by the collected facts. " There is no proof," says Dr.
J. 0. IsTott, in his Types of Mankind, " of the theory that the cultiva-
tion of the mind or of one set of faculties can give expansion or in-
creased size of brain. The Teutonic races, in their barbarous state,
two thousand years ago, possessed brains as large as now, and so with
other races."

The St. Louis Globe Democrat of November 13, 1885, gives an
account of some excavations on the Mount Ararat farm, east of Car-
rollton, Illinois, where the bones of thirty-two Indians or mound
builders were unearthed. " They were not a diminutinve race, as
some people have supposed, some of the thigh bones being sixteen
inches long, and some of the skulls twenty-four inches in circumfer-

* Idiocy and Imbecility, London, 18*77, pp. 216-219.

f See The Brain as an Organ of Mind, London, 1880, p. 465 ; also, The Human Brain,
London, 1847, pp. 288, 289.

254 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

ence." A skull bavins; a circumference of twentv-four inches means
a head that measured from twenty-five to twenty -six and a half in
life, when the cranium was covered with skin and muscles. The
average head of white men in New York to-day is only twenty-two
and a half inches round. So the culture of the white race for cen-
turies has not developed their heads to near the size of those of the
uncultured mound builders who inhabited America many centuries
ago. Our own opinion is that cultivation by means of a thorough
classical education, where the appetite is restrained, as usually occurs,
tends rather to diminish the size of the head, by reducing the tem-
poral muscles and the adipose tissue under the scalp.

The Encis skull is one of the most ancient known to exist, and
belonged to the stone age, or about the same time as the Neanderthal
skull. Professor Huxley describes it as being well formed, and con-
siderably larger than the average of European skulls to-day in the
width and height of the forehead and in the cubic capacity of the
whole.

Quatrefages, in The Human Species, p. 312, says: "This skull
(the Engis or Cro-Magnon), so remarkable for its fine proportion, is
also remarkable for its capacity. According to M. Broca, who could
only work under precautions calculated to diminish the amount, it
is equal to at least 1,590 cubic centimetres (96.99 cubic inches). I
have already remarked that this number is far higher than the mean
taken from modern Parisians; it is equally so in comparison with
other European nations."

These facts all conspire to prove that the cultivation of thousands
of years has not increased the size of human skulls. In 1886, we
measured many of the skulls unearthed at Pompeii, the remains of
Romans who lived nearly two thousand years ago, and we found them
on the average larger in every way, but especially in the forehead,
than the skulls of Romans of this century.

In the museums of Switzerland we measured in 1887 several
skulls of the ancient lake dwellers of that country, and found them
larger in all respects, but particularly in the forehead, than those of
the Swiss people of the last fifty years. The average circumference
of the skulls we measured in the catacombs of Paris was twenty-one
inches and a half, which is about an inch more than that of Parisians
who have died within the past fifty years.

" The average internal capacity of the Peruvian skull is only
seventy-three cubic inches; that of Toltec skulls, seventy-seven
inches, and that of barbarous tribes, eighty-two inches; so that the
extraordinary anomaly is presented of a larger brain being possessed
by the barbarous tribes than by the nations who achieved no mean
degree of civilization in Central America and Peru. The average

SPELEOLOGY, OR CAVE EXPLORATION. 255

European skull is ninety-three inches in bulk." * The author was
informed by Mr. Lucien Carr, of the Ethnological Museum of
Harvard University, that the capacity of the Peruvian skulls was
about one hundred centimetres smaller than that of the skulls of any
other people living in America at the same time. Yet that small-
headed people was the most highly civilized of all.

♦*♦■

SPELEOLOGY, OK CAVE EXPLORATION, f

Br M. E. A. MAETEL.

THE not very graceful word speleology was composed a few
years ago by M. Emile Riviere out of Greek elements, as a
translation of the German Hbhlenkunde, to signify the study of
caves. The study claims a place among the sciences, and is, I believe,
able to justify its claim. Caves have been subjects of interest and
curiosity in all times and countries. In the primitive ages, when
palaeolithic man was obliged to defend himself against the large
Quaternary wild beasts, and did not yet know how to construct cabins,
he lived in the most inaccessible caves, or those easiest to close, which
he could find. Afterward, when man had advanced in civilization
to the neolithic stage, and had somewhat improved tools and arms,
having learned to build huts and villages, caves became simply burial
places. In the historical periods of antiquity they were transformed
into pagan sanctuaries or temporary hiding places in times of revolt,
civil war, or invasion. Down to the middle ages and the renascence,
they shared this function with abandoned quarries. Through these
changes they gradually became objects of popular fear and absurd
legend. I have nearly everywhere in France found legendary and
profound belief in some monstrous basilisk or dragon in the depths
of dark caverns, guarding immense treasures; and woe to the rash
adventurer who tried to steal these riches!

In short, caves have suffered their vicissitudes; their use as habi-
tations seems to be inversely proportioned to the degree of civiliza-
tion. The miserable aborigines of Australia have not yet quite aban-
doned them; and in France the present occupation of the grottoes
of Ezy, in the Eure, by some outcast families, who lead a sordid exist-
ence in them, indifferent to all social conventions, has recently been
cited as an extremely curious anthropological phenomenon.

Science, too, has laid its hold on caves only within a little more
than a century; for it was not till 1774 that Esper recognized that

* Eclectic Magazine, December 14, 1863, p. 428.

f From an address before the Socidte des Amis des Sciences.

256 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

the large bones taken from the caverns near Baireuth, in Bavaria,
were not those of human giants, but of extinct animals, and he called
them, they being petrified by limestone, zooliths, or animal-stones;
and it was his remarks upon them that drew Cuvier's attention to
paleontology.

Three sciences have of late years been advanced by the explora-
tions of caves: paleontology; prehistory, or research among the re-
mains of primitive men and their industries; and zoology, or the
study of living beings. The animals of caverns — crustaceans, in-
sects, batrachians, and fishes — constitute a special fauna, which has
been for fifty years a subject of study to naturalists of various na-
tions, and to the anatomy of which M. Armand Vire, of the Natural
History Museum of Paris, has been giving special attention for five
years past.

There are other sciences the study of which in connection with
caves, while capable of yielding valuable fruits, has been too long
neglected: geology, for their origin and formation; mineralogy, for
their relations to metallic veins; meteorology, for thermometrical
and barometrical variations and the formation of carbonic acid; ter-
restrial physics, for the experiments on gravity that might be car-
ried on in deep vertical pits, supplementing the observations of Fou-
cault in the Pantheon at Paris, and Airy in the English mines;
hydrology, which has hardly yet perceived that caves are predomi-
nantly great laboratories of springs; agriculture, which might trans-
form them into reservoirs for times of drought or storage basins in
case of flood; and public hygiene, which is just beginning to discover
that they may harbor in their fissures hitherto unsuspected causes of
contamination of the water of the springs that issue from them. The
number and importance of these new problems that have arisen from
the recent extension of underground investigations seem fully to jus-
tify the specialization of the science of caves — another creation of the
Speleological Society, now four years old. This special interest in
the science of caves began about fifteen years ago, when, in 1883,
three members of the Austro-German Alpine Club — Herren Harske,
Marinitsch, and Miiller — resumed in the limestone plateaus of Istria
and Carniola called the Karst, explorations which had been actively
and profitably carried on in the middle of the century, from 1850
to 1857, by Dr. Adolf Schmidt, whose discoveries in the caves of
Adelsberg, Planina, and St. Canzion won him a membership in the
Vienna Academy of Sciences. Their efforts and those of Herr F.
Kraus, who died last year, had the result of interesting the Austrian
Government in the subject; and since 1886 various engineers have
been commissioned by the Minister of Agriculture to make official
explorations and construct economical works in the caves and under-

SPELEOLOGY, OR CAVE EXPLORATION. 257

ground rivers of Istria, Carniola, and Herzegovina. Credits are
granted every year for enterprises which prove to be more useful
than would at first be thought.

It was at the same time, between 1883 and 1885, that I made
my first investigation in the Causses of Lozere, Aveyron, and the
adjoining departments of France, the results of which were to re-
veal for the first time to the public, and even to geographers, the
picturesque beauties, then unknown, and now becoming the fashion,
of the gorges of the Tarn, Jenta, and Dourbie, the rocks of Mont-
pelier le Vieux, etc. In my excursions over the plateaus of the
Causses I frequently met, at the level of the surface, open, dark
holes, and mouths of vertical wells — averts — the depths of which no
one had ever looked into, unsoundable, they said, which the peasants
naturally took to be real mouths of hell. Recollecting what I
had admired at Adelsberg and in various caves of the Pyrenees, I
guessed these avens might also be doorways to subterranean splen-
dors and scientific treasures. So I began in 1888 the method-
ical exploration of the unexamined natural cavities of my own land
first, and then of other countries of Europe; and since then I have
devoted several weeks every year to this work.

These pits are simply horizontal holes opening upon the surface
of the ground, of very different forms and dimensions. Herdsmen
are very careful not to let their cattle go too near them, for they
sometimes fall in.

The diameter of these pits varies from a few inches to several
hundred yards, and they are sometimes more than six hundred feet
deep. It is not easy to go down into them, especially when they are
on high levels away from habitations and roads. In such cases a
considerable apparatus of ropes, rope ladders, telephone, portable
boat, tent, etc., has to be taken along. The first measurement with
the sounding line gives the depth only of the first pit — and there
are often several succeeding one another. A rope ladder long
enough to reach the bottom is then let down, and the man who
descends has a rope tied about him for additional security, which is
held by the people above. A great many pits are narrower at the
top than lower down, forming something like a reversed speaking
trumpet, so that the explorer finds it very difficult to make himself
heard at the top; hence I have adopted the practice of taking a
telephone along. The interior shapes of the pits are very diverse.
The narrower ones are easiest to go down, because they permit one
partly to support himself against their walls. The wider ones leave
him hanging loose, in a position which he feels to be very precarious.
When there is a second or third pit, and we have not ladders
enough, we have to trust ourselves to a simple rope with a board

TOL. LIV. 19

258 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

fastened at the end of it for a seat. The gouffre of Vigne Close, in
Ardeche, which is about six hundred feet deep, has five successive
pits, and its complete exploration required three days. The bottom
of the pit may be a simple cleft in the rock, or an immense cathedral-
like chamber; as at Rabanel, near Ganges, and Herault, the deepest
abyss in France, the vault of which expands into a gigantic nave,
five hundred feet high, which is lighted by the beam of light that
falls through the opening, presenting a grand and indescribable spec-
tacle. Some pits of less depth, as the Tin doul de la Vayssiere, in
Aveyron, and the Padirac well, in Lot, both leading to underground
rivers, enjoy a still more complete illumination. Considerable talus
banks close the ends of these broad pits, and are generally produced
by the caving in of the roofs of caves.

Lively controversies and gross errors have prevailed concerning
the geological formation of abysses. The abyss of Jean Nouveau,
Vaucluse, among others, furnishes evidence against the false hy-
pothesis that such pits are as a rule the results of cave-ins, whereas
pits of that origin are rare and exceptional. These pits are for the
most part fissures, the principal feature of which is their narrowness.
At Jean Nouveau the greatest breadth is not more than about six-
teen feet. It is the deepest vertical pit of a single shaft without
intermediate terraces that we know of, and is about five hundred and
thirty feet from the surface of the ground to its floor. The mass
of stone rubbish at the bottom prevented our descending into a
second pit.

Pits composed, like Vigne Close, of several successive wells, de-
stroy another hypothesis — that of the formation of gouffres by the
emissions from thermal springs.

The greatest danger in descending these pits arises from the
showers of stones that sometimes come down upon the head of the
explorer. These are often started by his friends the hunters, or by
their dogs gamboling around at will.

While some of the caverns I have explored were stopped up by
obstacles of one kind or another that prevented further progress, in
others we found considerable rivers running a nearly free course.
We rarely found pits formed by the collapse of the roofs of the
cave in cases where the distance from the subterranean river which
by its work of erosion provoked the catastrophe to the surface was
more than one hundred metres. The pit of the Mas Raynal, Avey-
ron, is one hundred and six metres deep, and abuts upon a large sub-
terranean river, which supplies the Sorgues of Saint-AfTrique, one
of the finest springs of France. When we explored it, in 1889,
we could not pass the low chambers which occur in it because
the water was too high, and we have not visited it since. Its

SPELEOLOGY, OR CAVE EXPLORATION. 259

exploration in a dry season might reveal many very interesting
chambers.

In the cave of Rabanel, the first well, which ends in a talus of
fallen stones, furnishes an instance of a vertical fissure grafted, if
we may use the word, upon an interior grotto that already existed.
A stream runs through this grotto which falls into a second well
twenty-six metres, and is then lost in smaller passages so nearly
stopped up with earth that we were not able to follow it through
its course of about a mile till it comes out at the Brissac spring.

The cave of Trebiciano, in Istria, near Trieste, the deepest
known, has a total depth of more than a thousand feet. It is not,
however, entirely natural, but is composed of numerous vertical
fissures which lead, at about eight hundred and fifty feet below the
surface, to a large cavern, at the bottom of which flows the subter-
ranean river Recca. The fissures do not naturally communicate
directly with one another, but the engineer Lindner was commis-
sioned in 1840-'41 by the city of Trieste to construct for the mu-
nicipality a supply of potable water from the underground streams,
and after eleven months of labor made artificial connections between
the different parts of the chasm.

These vertical pits are formed by the wearing down, from the
top, by the waters which become ingulfed in them. This mode of
their formation was demonstrated to me in 1895, when I was in
Great Britain under a commission from the French Minister of In-
struction. I then explored several caves in which the rivers were
still running, and satisfied myself that the pits were simply absorbing
wells. Such wells are not effective now in southern France and
Austria, but in northern Europe, where rain is more abundant, they
are still operative. I found the plainest evidence of this fact in
Yorkshire, at the Gaping Ghyll, Ingleborough, where a river pre-
cipitates itself at one leap one hundred metres under the earth.
English investigators and travelers had tried without success to de-
scend into it in 1845, 1870, and 1894, having conquered only about
one hundred and ninety-five feet of its total depth of two hundred
and twenty-nine feet. It took me twenty-five minutes to go down
upon a rope ladder which was suspended in the midst of the cascade.
Fortunately, the pit had the daylight to the very bottom — a won-
derful spectacle, compensating me for all my trouble and the long
douche bath which greeted me at the end of the descent, where
stretched an immense Roman nave nearly five hundred feet long,
eighty feet wide, and ninety feet high, without any sustaining pillar.
From the middle of the roof of this colossal cavern fell the cascade
in a great nimbus of vapor and light — a wonderful fantastic scene,
such as Gustave Dore or Jules Verne could never have imagined.

260 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

The most pleasant feature of the whole of it, however, to me was
the thought that I had succeeded where the English had failed, and
on their own ground. The people were nevertheless very pleasant to
me, and at my instance have continued the exploration and made
some new discoveries. — Translated for the Popular Science Monthly
from the Revue Scientifique.

SKETCH OF CHAKLES HENRY HITCHCOCK.

THE name of Prof. Charles H. Hitchcock is closely associated
with the progress of New England geology, especially with the
discovery of the great terminal glacial moraine, and, in connection
with the name of his father, Dr. Edward Hitchcock, with the study
of the fossil bird tracks of the Connecticut River Valley.

Charles Henry Hitchcock was born in Amherst, Massachu-
setts, August 23, 1836, the son of Prof. Edward Hitchcock, the
eminent geologist, who was afterward president of Amherst College.
The family is of English origin, and was planted in America by two
brothers who came over at nearly the same time and made homes
for themselves in New Haven, removing later to towns near by.
Luke Hitchcock, the ancestor of the subject of this sketch, came in
1695, and finally settled at Wethersfield, Connecticut. His de-
scendants in the direct line lived at Springfield, Granville, Deer-
field, and Amherst, Massachusetts. Professor Hitchcock is in the
seventh generation from Luke, and is equally removed from Elder
John White, his maternal ancestor, who came to Canton, Massachu-
setts, toward the end of the seventeenth century, and removed thence
to the Connecticut Valley. Both lines of ancestry were purely Eng-
lish, and all the progenitors were men of integrity, regarded in
their times as worthy to fill offices of trust in church and town.
Two of them served in the Revolutionary army.

The father of Professor Hitchcock was one of the most distin-
guished geologists and educators of his time, and his services, espe-
cially as State Geologist of Massachusetts, have already been de-
scribed in the Popular Science Monthly.* His mother was the
daughter of Jacob White, a well-to-do farmer of Amherst, who, be-
lieving in the education of women, had given her the best oppor-
tunities for study available at the time. She could read the Greek
Testament and calculate eclipses, and was a gifted artist with pencil
and brush. She prepared with her own hands many of the numerous
illustrations in her husband's reports, and also diagrams for the

* Vol. xlvii, September, 1895.

SKETCH OF CHARLES HENRY HITCHCOCK. 261

lecture room. She took indefatigable pains with the education of
her children, placing their moral and religious welfare first. Of
the eight children of the family, six of whom reached maturity, the
surviving brother is professor of physical culture, and, for the time
being, acting president at Amherst College, and one of the two sur-
viving sisters, the widow of the Rev. C. M. Terry, has been for sev-
eral years matron of the Hubbard Cottage, Smith College, North-
ampton, Massachusetts.

Beginning with 1835, the year before Professor Hitchcock was
born, his father, Professor Edward Hitchcock, was largely occupied
with the study of the " fossil bird tracks " in the New Red Sandstone
of the Connecticut Valley, and with the discussions to which the
investigation gave rise, the story of which has been told by Prof.
C. H. Hitchcock himself in the Popular Science Monthly (vol. iii,
August, 1873). Besides the search for the fossils and their collec-
tion and comparison, and the examination of the literature that
might throw light on the subject, there were studies into the proper
interpretation of the early chapters of Genesis, the debate with Prof.
Moses Stewart, of Andover, and the gradual approach of the Ameri-
can clergy to general acquiescence in the belief that geology is not
at variance with Scripture. Professor Hitchcock's childhood was
largely spent under the influence of these studies and discussions.
The boy seemed to be full of promise, and because of his observing
ways and proneness to speculation was called " the young philoso-
pher." He used to bring his mother the very small flowers of
Spergula rubra, which are so obscure that older eyes often fail to
notice them. He seemed to be fonder of his father than the other
children, and was never so happy as with him. Through this con-
stant intercourse Charles became absorbed in his father's pursuits,
and grew up into a knowledge of geology from Nature and from
verbal explanations — a more satisfactory method than that of learn-
ing from books; and he was associated with his father in all his
geological work from the time when he was first old enough to be of
service. Thus, before 1856 he was acquainted, from inspection, with
the terraces and reputed beaches and drift phenomena of all western
Massachusetts; he had handled every specimen of a foot mark in
the Appleton Cabinet, and by 1861 was the principal assistant
on the Vermont Survey, having prepared for the press the
greater part of the matter of the report. He had enjoyed the best
educational advantages of his day, having completed the classical
and preparatory courses of Williston Seminary, and been graduated
thence in 1852, then graduated from Amherst College in 1856,
a short time before his twentieth birthday. Among his early class-
mates and college friends were Dr. Cyrus Northrup, president of

262 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Minnesota University; Dr. Kichard Mather, professor of Greek
at Amherst College; the Rev. Dr. Goodwin, of Chicago; and Dr.
William Hayes Ward, editor of The Independent. After graduation
he spent a year in special study of Hebrew and chemistry at Yale
College, two years at Andover Theological Seminary, and one year
in Europe, studying in the Royal School of Mines under Professor
Huxley, and in the British Museum investigating the Crustacea and
trilobites. Here he enjoyed the friendship of Professor Richard
Owen, and had the guidance of Dr. H. Woodward.

In 1857 Mr. Hitchcock was appointed assistant geologist to the
Geological Survey of Vermont. He served the full term of the
survey, and had charge of the preparation of the report relating to
the stratigraj3hical geology, the measurement and delineation of
the sections, and the compilation of the geological map.

In 1861 he received the appointment of State Geologist of
Maine, in which service he spent two summers in field work, prepar-
ing two reports of progress, which were published in connection with
the report of the secretary of the Board of Agriculture. Besides
the general reconnoissance, he discovered the existence of large areas
of Upper Silurian and Devonian terranes. He has embodied his
views of the distribution of the formations in his general map of the
United States.

Having chosen the ministry for his profession, Mr. Hitchcock
studied theology under Dr. E. A. Park, of Andover, and the Rev.
Dr. Taylor, of New Haven. Questions of the relations of theology
and science were attracting much attention, and he treated of them
in two papers in the Bibliotheca Sacra, one of which was afterward
used for the guidance of theological students in several seminaries.
As more opportunities were offered for scientific work, the ministry
was given up. This was the time when the doctrine of natural selec-
tion came to the front for investigation, and the early history of
mankind was receiving increased attention. Mr. Hitchcock came
home from Europe in 1867 convinced of the truth of some form of
evolution, of a considerable antiquity of man, and of the probability
of a plural origin of the human race. Finding that some of his
views on these subjects were not acceptable to his associates, he
ceased to make them prominent in his class instructions, and de-
voted his attention to the more technical details of geology. Since
then general opinion has advanced so far on these subjects that the
views he held at that time seem now really conservative.

In 1868 he was appointed State Geologist for New Hampshire,
and spent ten years in the survey of that State. The results of his
work there were published in three large quarto volumes, with a
folio atlas of maps, profiles, and sections. The rocks described con-

SKETCH OF CHARLES HENRY HITCHCOCK. 263

sist principally of crystalline schists and marine igneous ejections.
The geology of New Hampshire is of peculiar importance, because the
situation of the State is such that a correct knowledge of its rocks
promotes the understanding of many obscure terranes in the adjacent
regions of Maine, Quebec, Vermont, and Massachusetts. Professor
Hitchcock's report of the survey may justly be styled his chief work.
The part best studied relates to the White Mountains and the
Ammonoosuc mining district. Connected with the survey was the
maintenance of a meteorological station throughout the year on the
summit of Mount Washington. Daily statements of the weather con-
ditions of this station during the winter of 1870-'71 were sent by
telegraph to the principal newspapers, and called out much interest —
before the United States Signal Service began its weather predictions.
The catalogue of Professor Hitchcock's publications comprises
more than one hundred and fifty titles of papers, reports, and books.
Perhaps the earliest thorough study represented among them was
that of the fossil footmarks. The first of the published papers on
this subject related to the tracks of animals in alluvial clay, and was
published in the American Journal of Science in 1855. For several
years after this he assisted his father in arranging the museum and
compiling tables for the Ichnology. He made a complete catalogue
descriptive of the more than twenty thousand individual impressions
preserved in the Appleton Cabinet, which was printed, with descrip-
tions of a few new species of footmarks, in the Supplement to the
Ichnology of Massachusetts, edited by him after the death of his
father in 1865. Although circumstances have prevented him from
paying much attention to ichnology in later years, he has prepared
several papers on the subject, the most important of which was one
on the Recent Progress of Ichnology, which was read before the
Boston Society of Natural History about twelve years ago. In it
the ichnites were carefully catalogued anew and classified in the
light of our knowledge of the numerous dinosaurs of the West; and
the results of some studies of the slabs exhumed at Wethersfield,
Connecticut, are well known. The list of the Connecticut footmarks
was increased from one hundred and nineteen in the Ichnology to
one hundred and seventy; and facts were cited to show that the
Grallator, the three-toed animal most allied to birds, possessed a
caudal appendage of a reptilian nature. The Trias of New Jersey
had been found to illustrate new features in the Otozoum, whose
tracks are often ornithic in aspect. A comparison of the features of
the Triassic skeletons described by Marsh from Connecticut (Anchi-
saurus) shows that the creatures were rather allied to the Plesiornis
than to the Anomcepus of the Ichnology, because of the great size of
the fore feet. Notes upon footmarks have been gathered also from

264 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

illustrations in Pennsylvania, Nova Scotia, Kansas, Nevada, and
Florida.

Professor Hitchcock has studied the Quaternary or glacial deposits
with great success. His first publication upon the terraces and allied
phenomena of Vermont appeared while the old views of a submer-
gence, with icebergs, prevailed, to account for the phenomena. A
study of the glaciers of Switzerland in 1866 satisfied him of the
truth of Agassiz's theory; and whenever the opportunity came for
re-examination of the surface geology of northern New England,
the facts were found to require a different theoretical explanation.
He caused a thorough examination to be made of the Connecticut
River terranes by Warren Upham in the New Hampshire Survey,
and proved that all the high mountains of Vermont, New Hamp-
shire, and Maine had been glaciated by a southeasterly movement.
The ice came from the Laurentian highlands, pushed in a southern
direction down the Champlain-Hudson Valley, with a southeasterly
flow over New England and southwesterly over the Adirondacks;
the last two courses having been subordinate to the first. At present
the Laurentian hills are lower than the New England and New York
mountains overridden by the ice, and probably the same was the case
in the Glacial period. The best explanation of these paths is afforded
by the suggestion that a gigantic ice cap accumulated north of the St.
Lawrence, towering into the clouds so much that its overflow natu-
rally descended over the White and Adirondack Mountains.

That glaciers should accumulate terminal moraines is axiomatic,
but no geologist before 1868 had ventured to suggest where moraines
might be located in the United States. In that year Professor Hitch-
cock delivered a lecture before the Lyceum of Natural History in
New York and the Long Island Historical Society in Brooklyn, in
which he affirmed that the drift deposits from Prospect Park along
the backbone of Long Island for its entire length constituted the
terminal moraine of the great continental ice sheet. This declaration
inaugurated a new era in the study of the age of ice. The geologists
in their several States found the terminal moraines, and the various
phenomena began to be classified according to new laws. The search
for moraines has resulted in a restatement of the incident of the
age of ice; more than a dozen successive terminal moraines have
been mapped between New York and Montana, which suggest to us
the existence of several glacial periods. In compiling a catalogue of
observations of the course of glacial strise by the United States Geo-
logical Survey, it was found that Professor Hitchcock had recorded
for New England as many as all other geologists had observed for
the whole country.

Ushers are another interesting class of phenomena, and were

SKETCH OF CHARLES HENRY HITCHCOCK. 265

first described as horsebacks in Maine, about seventy of them having
been described in the report of 1861 and 1862. It was not till after
the description of the Swedish Osar that the nature of these lines or
ridges was understood; and now they were found in every promi-
nent valley in New England, as attendant upon the recession of the
ice sheet. Professor Hitchcock gave the correct name of these ridges
in his Elementary Geology, 1860; while for many years subse-
quently they were erroneously called hames, even in the geology of
New Hampshire.

Professor Hitchcock gave the name of Champlain to the fossilif-
erous clays associated with the till of the Atlantic coast. The term
has come into general use as connected with the melting of the ice in
the latter part of the period. Because of the presence of boreal
species, and of analogies with similar deposits in Europe, Professor
Hitchcock has asked the question whether there may not have been
a Champlain glacial epoch posterior to those named farther in the
interior of the country, the Kansan, Iowan, and Illinoisian epochs.

Those who explore the geology of northern New England have
to deal with crystalline rocks of various ages, and the opinions of our
best geologists have not been in agreement respecting them. Pro-
fessor Hitchcock was the first to make a geological map of New
Hampshire, and he also demonstrated the anticlinal nature of the
Green Mountains of Vermont. His teachers had inculcated the view
that these eminences belonged to a synclinal disposition, coupling
this with theoretical assertions as to their age and metamorphism.
Finding their main principle to be erroneous, he naturally disparaged
their theories, though more recent studies are eliminating many of
the schists from the Archaean. All the later explorers in the field —
Canadians and members of the Geological Survey — accept a pre-
Cambrian anticlinal in the heart of the Green Mountains.

The distribution of the New Hampshire formations was made out
for the most part before any assistance was derived from the labors
of Dr. G. W. Hawes and other petrographers. Twenty years ago,
at the date of the final publication of the New Hampshire maps, the
doctrine of an igneous origin of the crystalline schist had hardly been
hinted at. What seems elemental to the modern petrographer who
has acquired his technical education since 1890 was unknown then,
and the classification given in the report may not agree with that now
taught. In the midst of the diverse views entertained, Professor
Hitchcock classified the rocks of northern New England according
to this principle: rocks that are identical in petrographical composi-
tion are assumed to have had the same origin, and to be synchronous.
Professor Hitchcock was almost the first of American geologists to
employ the petrographer as a help to the understanding of the crys-

266 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

tallines — as was evident by the very valuable contributions to knowl-
edge in Part IV of the New Hampshire Report as prepared by Dr.
Hawes.

A vexing question concerning what are now called Cambrian
terranes divided geologists for a quarter of a century after 1857, and
had to be considered in preparing the geology of Vermont in 1861.
This was the Taconic controversy. Trilobites had been discovered
in Vermont, which were misunderstood by most of the American
geologists following Hall, Logan, Dana, and others. In giving the
species the technical name first of Barrandesi and then Olenellus,
Prof. James Hall asserted its derivation from the Hudson River
group — relying upon the stratigraphical determinations of Sir W.
E. Logan. As soon as Barrandes's attention was called to these
trilobites and the attendant publication, he wrote his famous letter
to Logan in 1860, declaring that there must be a mistake somewhere.
That error was discovered in time to be eliminated from the Ver-
mont report of the following year. Professor Hitchcock had
charge of the field work in this Cambrian district, and his views of
the arrangement of the formations are in agreement with those of
the latest workers in the field. He applied the term of Georgia
to one division of the terrane in 1860; and the designation has
been generally adopted since that time. Jules Marcou claimed pri-
ority in the suggestion of the application of the term, but upon
the publication of Professor Hitchcock's statement on the subject
the credit of priority was awarded to him by Director Walcott, of
the United States Geological Survey.

Between 1860 and 1870 Professor Hitchcock was occupied
largely as a mining geologist in the estimation of mineral deposits for
mining companies, with his office in New York. In the prosecution
of this business he traveled in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec,
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Penn-
sylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, and Alabama. Sub-
sequently, the study of the phosphate beds led him to the island of
Redonda in the West Indies. He further visited the phosphate beds
of South Carolina and Florida, the gold fields of eastern Oregon,
the Chalcedony Park of Arizona, the Grand Canon of the Colorado,
and the Yosemite and Yellowstone Parks. Studies made in the
Hawaiian Islands and their volcanoes in 1883 and 1886 resulted in
the contribution of important observations respecting those regions.
At the present writing Professor Hitchcock is spending a year of
further observations in those islands.

Mr. Hitchcock was appointed, in 1858, lecturer in zoology and
curator of the cabinet in Amherst College; an office which he filled
for seven years, retiring after the death of his father. In 1866

SKETCH OF CHARLES HENRY HITCHCOCK. 267

he was elected professor of geology in Lafayette College, where he
gave short courses of instruction to five successive classes. In 1868
he was called to the chair of geology in Dartmouth College, a posi-
tion which he still occupies, receiving a year's leave of absence for
1898-'99 in consideration of thirty years of service. He taught
geology and zoology as a provisional professor at Williams College
in 1881, and in the following year in the Virginia College of Agri-
culture and the Mechanic Arts, Blacksbury. He received the de-
gree of M. A. in course at Amherst in 1859, the honorary degree
of Ph. D. from Lafayette College in 1870, and that of LL. D. from
Amherst College in 1896.

Professor Hitchcock has been connected with the American
Association for the Advancement of Science since 1856, and a nearly
constant attendant upon its meetings and participant in the pro-
ceedings. He is a member of local scientific societies in Portland,
Me., Boston, Mass., !New York, Philadelphia, and St. Louis, and
also of the Imperial Geological Institute of Vienna. He ' was
one of the most prominent movers in the inception and early his-
tory of the Geological Society of America, and had much to do with
the organization of the International Congress of Geologists, and with
the preparation of special reports for the several meetings between
1876 and 1890. The handsome geological map of small scale com-
piled for the United States was prepared by him and published in
the Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers
(1887), to illustrate the nomenclature and color scheme of the Inter-
national Congress.

Professor Hitchcock is best known to many by his geological
maps. The first efforts at mapping the geology of the United States
were made independently by Edward Hitchcock and Jules Marcou
in 1883 — the work of Mr. Marcou extending only to the plains.
Prof. H. D. Rogers, five or six years later, prepared a map for John-
ston's Physical Atlas. In 1872 Prof. C. H. Hitchcock and Prof.
~W. P. Blake compiled a map for the ninth census of the United
States, and for R. W. Raymond's report upon the mineral re-
sources of the country. The success of his small scale map led Pro-
fessor Hitchcock to undertake the preparation of a map on a scale
of twenty-five miles to the inch for the whole country. For this he
consulted every work that had been printed upon the geology of the
United States, and obtained the privilege of using many unpublished
data collected by geologists of States and Territories in which the
work had never been carried to actual completion. The map pre-
pared by the General Land Office was used as the basis for the geo-
logical coloration, and the work appeared in 1881, of a size adapted
to use in the classroom. Its compiler has never seen any criticism of

268 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

its accuracy. The edition prepared for the Mining Institute em-
bodies all the information acquired for the large map, with such
additional facts as had been learned since that map was published.
Prof. Hitchcock's services were called into requisition in the compila-
tion of a similar map for the United States Geological Survey, which
was published in its annual report for 1886, under the editorship
of ¥ J McGee; in fact, the two maps were printed from the
same plates, but Dr. Hitchcock's contained certain features not found
in the other one — the result of different interpretations — and was
more complete. In the Government edition a system of coloration
devised by Major J. W. Powell, which was afterward abandoned,
was employed.

Professor Hitchcock contributed extensively to the collection of
State geological maps in the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, when
large scale sheets of New England, and a large copy of the Hitch-
cock and Blake map of 1872, were exhibited. A medal was awarded
for a sheet of thirteen sections illustrating the stratigraphy of Ver-
mont and New Hampshire. The beginning of the measurement of
sections was made for the Vermont Geological Report under the
direction of Dr. Edward Hitchcock in 1861. Twelve lines of ex-
ploration across the entire State were determined upon, and speci-
mens were collected to illustrate all the varieties of rock seen upon
each. The specimens were arranged in the State Museum at Mont-
pelier in geographical order. A similar plan of collection and ar-
rangement was projected for the New Hampshire survey, but it
was made to extend across the two States, from Maine to New York.
Besides the two State reports, later publications were issued, descrip-
tive of explorations and collections for the Bulletin of the American
Museum of Natural History in New York, and the New Hampshire
Agricultural Report for 1883. The work did not cease with these
publications, for after the transfer of the collection of sections from
the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts
to Dartmouth College in 1894, additional explorations were made;
the number of sections was increased to eighteen; improved drawings
of the profiles, colored geologically, were prepared for the cases in
the new Butterfield Museum ; and the explanation of the details was
further facilitated by the construction of a large relief map on the
scale of one mile to the inch horizontally, twice as much vertically,
and having colors corresponding to those on the profiles between the
shelves. About five thousand specimens have been gathered to illus-
trate the profiles.

The Dartmouth College Museum is filled with specimens accu-
mulated by the energy of Professor Hitchcock. They concern ge-
ology, paleontology, petrography, economic botany, and conchology.

EDITOR'S TABLE.

269

%aitov r s %xMz.

EVOLUTION AND EDUCATION.

OUR attention has been drawn to
a lively discussion that has late-
ly taken place in the St. Paul pa-
pers over the utterances, on the sub-
ject of the doctrine of evolution in its
relation to education, of a certain Mr.
Smith, who was appointed not long
since superintendent of the public
schools of that city. What seems
clear is that Mr. Smith is a very ig-
norant man, whose views in regard
to education are of an altogether
retrograde character. How he came
to be appointed to his present position
is a question which is being gravely
pondered by many of the citizens;
but probably the explanation is not
very far to seek. The dispensers of
patronage in State and municipal
affairs are not always competent to
make the best nominations to offices
calling for high qualifications; and
sometimes they do not even act up
to their own indifferent lights. The
man that has the pull is very apt to
be the man that gets the office, and
it is not often that the strongest pull
goes with the highest professional
fitness.

However this may be, there Mr.
Smith is, and what kind of a man
he is may be judged from his utter-
ances. It is thus that he refers to
Mr. Spencer: "There is an old man
in England who for years has spent
all his time and devoted all his ener-
gies to the attempt to create a system
which shall entirely ignore the name
of the Deity. He will shortly die,
and it shall not be remembered that
he ever performed an act or said a
word that blessed or comforted or
relieved his suffering fellows." To
further darken the picture, he con-
trasts Spencer with the late Cardinal

Newman, who wrote the hymn
" Lead, kindly light," and who, we
are told, if he had done nothing
more, would have been "followed
by the blessings and the prayers of
those whom he had comforted and
saved." Again, dealing with the
modern scientific view that, in the de-
velopment of the human individual
all antecedent stages of human devel-
opment are, in a manner, passed
through, he says: "Let us discard
the primitive-man theory. You do
not believe it. Rather shall we not
hold with Emerson that every child
born into the world is a new Messiah
given into the arms of fallen human-
ity to lead them back to paradise ? "

It is no part of our purpose to de-
fend Mr. Spencer against the attacks
of so negligible an assailant as Mr.
Smith, of Minnesota. The words that
Mr. Spencer has spoken for truth,
for justice, for humanity, for peace,
are his sufficient commendation and
vindication — were vindication need-
ed — in the eyes of all who have any
competent knowledge of contempo-
rary thought. If these words do not
help to make the world better we
should feel little inclined to put our
trust in the most skillfully construct-
ed sacred lyric. Men do not always
know their benefactors; and it is al-
together possible, nay probable, that
thousands who perhaps never heard
Mr. Spencer's name have benefited
through the greater consideration
with which they have been treated
by others, owing to his teaching. It
is quite possible for men, yes, and
women too, to sing " Lead, kindly
light" with great unction, and yet
to be the ardent abettors of warlike
sentiments and warlike acts — to revel
in a ruthless and immoral jingoism.

270

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Dry den was not referring to the ad-
herents of any evolutionist philos-
ophy when he wrote:

" In lusts we wallow, and with pride we swell,
And injuries with injuries repel ;
Prompt to revenge, not daring to forgive,
Our lives unteach the doctrine we believe."

" Not daring to forgive " is good, and
nearly as true in the nineteenth cen-
tury as it was in the seventeenth.
The one English statesman who
dared to forgive a defeat inflicted on
English arms and to acknowledge an
error, incurred by that single act a
deeper hatred and contempt than he
earned by anything else, or all else,
in his long and storm-tossed career.
We refer to the action taken by
Gladstone after the battle of Majuba
Hill. And we are much mistaken if
the majority of those who execrated
him most deeply for not crushing
the Boers under England's over-
whelming force were not immense
admirers of the cardinal's hymn.
What is certain is that they were
not immense admirers of Spencer,
and that Spencer did not immensely
admire them.

Superintendent Smith has quoted
Emerson, but he does not occupy the
standpoint that enables him to see
Emerson in true perspective, or to
feel what his philosophy lacks when
confronted with the newer knowl-
edge of the century. Mr. J. J.
Chapman, in his recent memorable
book of essays, gives us a better view.
" A critic in the modern sense,'' Mr.
Chapman says, " he (Emerson) was
not. He lived too early and at too
great a distance from the forum of
European thought to absorb the ideas
of evolution, and give place to them
in his philosophy. . . . We miss in
Emerson the underlying conception
of growth, of development, so char-
acteristic of the thought of our own
day, and which, for instance, is found
everywhere latent in Browning's po-
etry. . . . He is probably the last

great writer to look at life from a
stationary standpoint."

That the doctrine of evolution
constitutes to-day a most important
guiding principle in education no
competent educationist could be
found to deny. It teaches us to deal
with the young as in a very true
sense the heirs of all the ages, to
make due allowance in childhood for
instincts and habits which partake
of the earlier stages of human devel-
opment, and to look forward with
confidence to later and higher mani-
festations. We have less faith than
our ancestors had in the rod, and
more in the gradual unfolding of the
powers and capacities of the mind,
and therewith the enlargement and
improvement of the moral nature.
We do not believe as our forefathers
did in breaking children's wills; nor
do we view their peccadilloes in the
lurid light of a gloomy theological
creed. We recognize that veracity,
in the sense of strict accuracy of
speech, purged of all imaginative
elements, is a virtue which not all
adults are able to practice, and which
is not a natural product of the child
mind. We can not accept Emerson's
doctrine of infant Messiahs, and yet
we can recognize very fully the mis-
sion of the child in the home, the
demand it makes for tenderness, for
patience, for though tfulness on the
part of parents, the hopes and fears
and heart-searchings that it calls into
play, the aspirations that it promotes
toward the realization, if for its sake
only, of a higher life. Froebel
grasped a large measure of truth in
regard to children, but too much of
sentiment, in our opinion, entered
into his treatment of them. In the
full light of the doctrine of evolution
we take them as they are, and help
them to work out under favorable
conditions that development of which
they are capable. We are not im-
posed upon by childish imitations of

EDITOR'S TABLE.

271

mature virtues, arid are rather dis-
posed to repress recognized tendencies
to precocity ; but we believe that the
germs of good are sown in every
normal human being, and that, unless
killed by most unwise treatment, they
will fructify in due time.

What we may well consider seri-
ously is whether our modern modes
of life enable us to do that justice to
children which evolutionary teach-
ing requires. Can true health of
body and mind be conciliated with
social ambition or with commercial
ambition ? Are we not hampered at
every turn by false schemes of edu-
cation, the object of which is to turn
out certain conventional products ?
How many of us can rise up in effect-
ive rebellion against the very fash-
ions that in our hearts we most con-
demn ? Before there can be any-
thing like a perfect education for the
young there must be a much more
fully developed sense of duty than
we see as yet in the older generation.
The doctrine of evolution is putting
the key to a true system into our
hands ; but to use that key aright re-
quires courage and high purpose —
qualities that are not of everyday
occurrence. Still, it is matter of con-
gratulation that the truth is not far
from us. It is well established in
our theories, and one of these days
we may hope it will gain a wide and
secure footing in our practice.

DAVID AMES WELLS.

In the death of David A. Wells,
which occurred at his home in Nor-
wich, Connecticut, on the 5th of No-
vember, 1898, America has lost one
of her ablest and most productive
men of letters and science a distin-
guished representative. Out of a
life of seventy years it may fairly
be said that Mr. Wells gave fifty of
them to intellectual pursuits, which
were mainly devoted to the advance

of science and its application to prac-
tical affairs. After passing the pe-
riod of early study, and particularly
since he became interested in eco-
nomic questions, much of his work
was in the line of original investiga-
tion, the results of which have from
time to time been given to the public
either through his books or in the
magazines. Another and more con-
spicuous feature of his career, the
one perhaps that made him best
known at home and first gave him
reputation abroad, was the valuable
service that he rendered the coun-
try at large in straightening out
the financial tangle the Govern-
ment had got itself into during
and after the civil war. In this
undertaking his great store of learn-
ing, rare practical sagacity, and un-
wavering confidence in the final
result, carried him through to a
brilliant success, earning for him in
high quarters the most flattering
testimonials of admiration and re-
spect.

Looked at in the light of what
he actually achieved, Mr. Wells's
preparation for his life work seems
to have been almost an ideal one.
Gifted with a strong love of Nature
and having a decidedly practical
turn of mind, he early showed a
fondness for the study of science.
This led him, soon after graduating
from Williams College in 1847, to
enter the Lawrence Scientific School
of Harvard University. Here he
completed the course with the first
class that was graduated by that in-
stitution in 1852. While studying
in the scientific school young Wells
became the special pupil of Agassiz,
and, as the sequel shows, caught the
enthusiasm with which that great
master was wont to inspire the young
men who were fortunate enough to
come within the range of his influ-
ence. During this period Mr. Wells,
in association with Mr. George Bliss,

272

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

began the compilation and publi-
cation of the Annual of Scientific
Discovery, which he continued for
some sixteen years. That he was
a clever student with quite excep-
tional endowments is seen in the
circumstance that immediately after
graduation he was appointed assist-
ant professor in the scientific school
and lecturer on physics and chem-
istry in Groton Academy, Massachu-
setts. He also, between 1857 and
1863, prepared a series of scientific
school books embracing the subjects
of physics, chemistry, and geology,
and a volume on the Science of
Common Things, all of which at-
tained a wide circulation.

Thus for a period of nearly fifteen
years Mr. Wells had devoted him-
self assiduously to the cultivation of
the physical sciences. Beginning
with the practical operations of the
laboratory, where the value of ex-
periment and observation is made
apparent, his work was continued in
the strengthening and developing
experiences of the teacher, and
thence led up to that wider knowl-
edge and that clearness of exposi-
tion which a bright mind would
acquire in the preparation of a num-
ber of successful scientific class
books. It may be presumed that
by this time he was thoroughly ac-
quainted with scientific method in
its applications to the investigation
and explanation of physical phe-
nomena. With the results this had
yielded in building up the great
body of verified knowledge compos-
ing the several sciences he must also
have been familiar. Mentally alert
and with sharpened powers of obser-
vation, he was able to seize and clas-
sify the facts bearing upon the prob-
lem in hand, and subject them to
systematic processes of scientific rea-
soning.

Such, in brief, was the training
and such the equipment brought by

Mr. Wells to the study of economic
questions when he first began to
write upon them in 1864. A better
preparation for the work to which
he was to give the next thirty years
of his life can scarcely be imagined.
While it is quite true that in entering
this new field he was to encounter a
class of facts and variety of phenom-
ena that were of a very different or-
der from those with which he had
previously been dealing, their appar-
ently haphazard character did not
deceive him. Well versed in the
practice of tracing effects to causes,
gifted with remarkable powers of in-
sight, and thoroughly believing that
the methods of science would prove
as available in the study of econom-
ics as in other fields, he began his in-
vestigations without misgiving, pa-
tiently accumulated and studied the
facts, and when conclusions were ar-
rived at, no matter how contrary they
might be to current teaching, fear-
lessly announced and defended them.
Though half his life a firm believer
in the doctrine of protection, when
Mr. Wells went to Europe for the
Government in 1867 to investigate
the subject of tariff taxation, high
and low tariff countries alike were
visited, with the determination to
leave nothing undone that would aid
to a better understanding of the
question. All the varied aspects of
the problem were carefully studied
in connection with the principal in-
dustries of the respective countries,
and, finding reason in the facts thus
obtained to revise his opinions, he
came home a convert to free trade.
For an account of what he had ob-
served during the course of his in-
vestigations, and of the conclusions
based thereon, the reader is referred
to the fourth volume of his reports
as commissioner of internal revenue,
published in 1869. His book on Re-
cent Economic Changes, and the pa-
pers on The Principles of Taxation,

EDITOR'S TABLE.

2 73

that have appeared in this magazine
during the last two years, are records
of equally painstaking research.
Moreover, they are both excellent
examples of what a strict adherence
to scientific method has done and
may yet be expected to do toward
clearing up the knotty problems in
economics that are now engaging
public attention.

United with his great learning,
and a rare power of generalization,
Mr. Wells possessed in full measure
that intellectual honesty which is
the indispensable characteristic of
the true man of science. This ena-
bled him to follow without doubt or
hesitation wherever the facts might
lead ; and with his clear perception
of their real import, joined to his
habit of independent thought, traits
that are displayed throughout all his
more formal writings, they are what
in our opinion constitute his title to
distinction. They give to his teach-
ings, which have already done more
than any other agency that we
know toward placing the subject of
political economy on a sound scien-
tific basis, a high and enduring char-
acter.

A BORROWED FOUNDATION.

"The central idea of Professor
Griddings's Principles of Sociology, a
work that has the honor of being the
first independent attempt in English
to treat of sociology as such, is that
we must postulate on the part of
human beings what he calls a con-
sciousness of kind. Critics of his
volume have naturally told him that
this is essentially a philosophical
idea, found in Hegel and in British
ethical writers of the eighteenth cen-
tury."

We quote the above from an ar-
tol. liv. — 20

tide by Professor Caldwell, entitled
Philosophy and the Newer Sociol-
ogy, in the October Contemporary.
We are not prepared to dispute Pro-
fessor Caldwell's statement that the
idea of the " consciousness of kind "
may be found in the writers to whom
he refers ; but it would have been
very much to the point if he had
mentioned that it is to be found most
clearly enunciated in Mr. Herbert
Spencer's Principles of Sociology.
In an article contributed to this
magazine in December, 1896, Mr.
Spencer took occasion to point out
that what Professor Giddings seemed
to regard as an apergu peculiar to
himself had been distinctly formu-
lated years before in his own writ-
ings. In proof of this he quoted the
following passages:

"Sociality having thus com-
menced, and survival of the fittest
tending ever to maintain and in-
crease it, it will be further strength-
ened by the inherited effects of habit.
The perception of kindred beings,
perpetually seen, heard, and smelt,
will come to form a predominant
part of consciousness — so predomi-
nant that absence of it will inevitably
cause discomfort." "Among crea-
tures led step by step into gregari-
ousness, there will little by little be
established a pleasure in being to-
gether — a pleasure in the conscious-
ness of one another's presence — a
pleasure simpler than, and quite dis-
tinct from, those higher ones which
it makes possible."

The fact is that there is much
more in Spencer than most recent
writers have ever explored; and the
newer sociologists would do well,
before putting forward claims to
originality, to make sure that they
have not been anticipated by the
veteran philosopher.

274 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

^jctaiitfic %itzxvduxz.

SPECIAL BOOKS.

In The Play of Animals* we are offered a book upon an essentially new
topic ; for, although much has been written concerning the habits and
intelligence of animals, no special consideration has been given to their
play or its psychic significance. The survey of this virgin territory seems
to the critical reader to have disclosed such limitless area to Professor
G-roos that he fails to indicate its legitimate boundaries. He confesses
himself overcome by a sense of its vastness, stating that the " versatility
needed for a thorough investigation is so comprehensive that it is unattain-
able by an ordinary mortal."

Play, he finds, is not " an aimless activity carried on for its own sake" ;
neither is it the product of surplus physical energy, as Mr. Spencer defines
it, for in youth there is playfulness without this condition. Instincts use-
ful in preserving the species appear before they are seriously needed, and
are utilized in play, which serves as preparation for the tasks of life.
" Animals do not play because they are young, but have a period of youth
in order to play."

The special ends accomplished by play are control of the body, com-
mand of the means of locomotion, agility in pursuit of prey and in escap-
ing danger, and prowess in fighting. The games pursued in attaining these
ends are classified in nine groups, beginning with those of experimentation
and ending with those referred to curiosity. They include plays of move-
ment, hunting, fighting, love, construction, nursing, and imitation. For all
of these Professor Groos finds but one instinct of play responsible, supple-
mented by the instinct of imitation. He enters into an elaborate discussion
of instinct, giving an outline of Weismann's theory of heredity and the views
of various writers. He adopts Herbert Spencer's definition of instinct as a
complex reflex act, referring its origin to the operation of natural selection,
acknowledging the process to be beyond our grasp. In seeking to explain
bird song and the love play of animals, the theory of sexual selection is
not accepted by him without qualification ; a modification of the Darwinian
principle is suggested in which the female exerts an unconscious choice.
The psychic characteristics of play are the pleasure following satisfaction
of instinct, energetic action and joy in the acquirement of power. Tbe
animal at first masters its own bodily movements, then seeks the conquest
of other animals and inanimate objects. When a certain facility in play
has been gained a higher intellectual stage is entered upon, that of make-
believe, or playing a part. This state of conscious self-illusion is reached
by many of the higher animals. Psychically, it indicates a divided con-
sciousness, and occupies a place between the ordinary state and the ab-
normal ones of hypnosis and hysteria. To this condition Professor Groos
ascribes the genesis of artistic production, an hypothesis that he has elabo-
rated more fully in Einleitung in die Aesthetik.

The experimental plays of animals, divided into those of courtship, imi-
tation, and construction, correspond to the principles of self exhibition,

* The Play of Animals. By Karl Grooa. Translated by Elizabeth L. Baldwin. New York :
D. Appleton and Company. Pp. 341. Price, $1.75.

SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE.

275

imitation, and decoration, which are claimed to be the motives of human
art. The acquirement of power through play develops a feeling of freedom,
and this the artist likewise seeks to realize in the world of ideals.

Artists will not probably acknowledge that " life is earnest, art is playful,"
nor moralists agree that '' man is only human when he plays, for there is
no real freedom in the sphere of experience," yet both may find food for
thought in Professor Groos's analysis of play.

In the spasm of unreasoning hostility to Spain which has come over
the people of the United States, succeeding a period of effusive admiration,
the public are apt to forget that that nation has done anything creditable
for the promotion of civilization. Yet, leaving out other fields of culture
for the present, it has produced two painters who rank among the great
masters, besides numerous secondary artists, rivals of any of that grade in
the world, and a voluminous literature which George Ticknor thought it
worth while to make the study of his life, and which inspired the pens of
Irving, Longfellow and Lockhart. One of the works of this literature
ranks among the world's greatest classics, and has been, perhaps, after the
Bible and Shakespeare more universally read than any other book ; and
numerous other works — chiefly romances — have furnished patterns or
themes for the poets, novelists, and dramatists of other nations. Mr. Fitz
Maurice Kelly's excellent and convenient History of Spanish Literature *
therefore comes in good time to refresh our memories concerning these facts.
One does not have to go very far in the history to find that of the great Latin
writers of the age of the Caesars, the two Senecas, Lucan the poet of Phar-
salia, Martial the epigrammatist, and Quintilian the rhetorician— still an
authority — and many minor writers, " were Spaniards as well as Romans."
It also appears that of what Gibbon declared to have been the happiest epoch
of man's history — from the death of Domitian to the accession of Corn-
modus, seventy of the eighty years, if we take the liberty, as Mr. Kelly
does, of counting Marcus Aurelius as a Cordovan, were passed beneath the
scepter of the Spanish Caesars. Prudentius, a distinguished Latin Christian
writer of a succeeding age, was also a Spaniard. Although there were
" archaic " works of trovadors before that time, traditionally preserved by
juglars, Spanish literature proper began in the twelfth century. It owed
much to French and Italian, and in course of time gave much back to
them. Among its earliest signs was the development of the romance (bal-
lad), while Arab writers (whose work Mr. Kelly considers of doubtful value)
and Jews, who are better spoken of, were early contributors to it. The
earliest works of importance were the Mystery of the Magian Kings, one of
the first plays in any modern language, and the great heroic poem of the
Cid, both anonymous. The first Castilian poet whose name has reached us
was Gonzalo de Berceo, 1198 to 1264, who wrote much, and was, "if not an
inventor, the chief of a school." Permanent form was given to Spanish
prose by King Alfonso the Learned, 1226 to 1284, who, ''like Bacon, took
all knowledge for his province, and in every department shone pre-emi-
nent." He had numerous collaborators, and "his example in so many
fields was followed " — among others (in some of them) by his son and suc-
cessor, Sancho IV. The Infanta, Juan Manuel, nephew of Alfonso, in one

* A History of Spanish Literature. By James Fitz Maurice-Kelly. New York : D. Appleton and
Company. (Literature of the World Series. Edited by Edmund Gosse.) Pp. 433. Price, $1.50.

276

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

of the stories of his Conde Lucanor — " one of the books of the world " —
created the germ of the Taming of the Shrew. Passing a numerous list of
writers of respectable merit, for whose names even we have not room, we
come to the age of the Catholic kings and Charles V, when for a hun-
dred and fifty years literature most flourished in Spain. Among the fea-
tures of this period are the Amadis de Gaul— u the best in that kind " — which
inspired Cervantes ; Columbus, who, though of Italian birth, " was probably
the truest Spaniard in all the Spains," the poet Garcilaso de la Vega,
and Berual Diaz and other historians whose names dot Prescott's books.
Passing a large number of writers of mark whose works appeared in this
age, and stopping only to mention Alonzo de Ercilla y Zuniga's Araucana
as the first literary work of real merit composed in either American conti-
nent, we come to the age of Cervantes, whose story of Don Quixote— "the
friendless people's friend," as Browning styles him — is not more distin-
guished for its satirical wit and humor than for its kindly humanity ; and
Lope de Vega, that most prolific of all dramatic authors, who " left no
achievement unattempted," and died lamented by a hundred and fifty-
three Spanish and fifty Italian authors, who sang his praises. Among
other of the most distinguished writers of this and succeeding periods are
Mariana, " the greatest of all Spanish historians " ; Gongora, a famous poet
in his day; Quevedo; Tirse de Molina, the creator of Don Juan ; Calderon,
second as a dramatist among Spaniards, if second, only to Lope de Vega,
and Alarcon his compeer ; and Velasquez, great in art and not small in
letters. An interregnum came in during the reign of Carlos II, and
French influence made itself felt. The age of the Bourbons produced
among others the Benedictine Sarmiento, who as a botanist " won the ad-
miration and friendship of Linne." The present century has been marked
by the names of many authors of merit, novelists known to us in transla-
tions, by an active movement of historical composition developing bril-
liant monographs, and by a marked advance of scholarship and tolerance,
led by Marcelino Menendez y Pelayo ; with a tendency to produce '' a breed
of writers of the German type.''

GENERAL NOTICES.

The great importance of the problems of
forestry and all that pertains to them can
not fail to be appreciated by any one who
has seen the devastation wrought in many
sections of this country by the " wood chop-
per." Forestry is one of the subjects where
natural science can step in and guide the
way to economic success, and where, in de-
fault of scientific methods, economically fatal
results inevitably ensue. The preservation
of forests has been an important problem in
Europe for many years, but until quite re-
cently it has received little attention in the
United States. One of the pioneers in the
field of forestry in this country was Franklin
B. Hough, whose Elements of Forestry is
still a used and useful manual. Among his

many schemes for attracting attention and
study to this important subject was one of
making actual sections of the wood of Ameri-
can trees, and arranging them in a compact
and attractive manner for general distribu-
tion. This idea he never carried out, and it
has remained for his son, Mr. R. B. Hough,
to finally carry out the scheme, by publish-
ing a complete series of such sections, care-
fully prepared and compactly bound.* In
Part I of the series there are cuttings repre-
senting twenty-five species of American trees.
The sections are sufficiently thin to allow of

* The American Woods. Exhibited by Actual
Specimens. Parti, representing Twenty-five Spe-
cies. By Romeyn B. Hough : Lowville, N. Y.
The Author.

SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE.

277

their study by transmitted light. There are
three cuttings from each species, transverse,
radial, and tangential to the grain. An ac-
companying text gives a condensed descrip-
tion of each tree, including its physical prop-
erties, uses, and habitat. These descriptions
are preceded by a useful introduction to the
study of general botany, describing the meth-
ods of distinguishing and naming the various
parts of plants and trees, and giving an ac-
count of their structure and methods of
growth. The actual wood sections, quite
apart from their scientific value, are worthy
of attention because of their great beauty.
They are substantially mounted on black
cardboard, each card containing the three
sections of a species, and its common name
in English, French, German, and Spanish.
The thinness of the cuttings makes it possible
to use them as transparencies, thus bringing
out the texture of the wood in a very effect-
ive way.

Prof. Charles Reid Barnes is impressed
with the fact that while laboratory work has
become nearly universal in botany, and labo-
ratory manuals are numerous, there is still a
lack of books giving an elementary account of
the form and functions of plants of all groups.
To supply this want he offers Plant Life *
as an attempt to exhibit the variety and pro-
gressive complexity of the vegetative body ;
to discuss the more important functions ; to
explain the unity of plan in both the struc-
ture and action of the reproductive organs ;
and to give an outline of the more striking
ways in which plants adapt themselves to
the world about them. He has made the
effort to treat these subjects so that, how-
ever much the student may still have to
learn, he will have little to unlearn. The
book is not intended to be memorized and
recited, but to be intelligible to pupils from
thirteen to eighteen years of age who are
engaged in genuine laboratory study under
the direction " of a live teacher who has
studied far more botany than he is trying to
teach." It is adapted to use supplementarily
to any laboratory guide or to the directions
prepared by the teacher. The directions

* Plant Life considered with Special Refer-
ence to Form and Function. By Charles Reid
Barnes. New York : Henry Holt & Co. Pp.
428. Price, $1.12.

are made fullest in relation to cryptogams
and physiology, because these fields are
at present most unfamiliar to teachers.

Attaching great importance to Electro-
Dynamics^ which he thinks will in the near
future assume the same relation to the elec-
tric motor that the science of thermo-dy-
namics already bears to the steam engine,
Mr. Charles Ashley Cams- Wilson aims in the
book of that name * to apply the principles
of that science to the direct-current motor.
Writing for electrical engineers particularly,
he takes for granted a certain acquaintance
with the use and design of motors, but
avoids unexplained technicalities as far as
possible. He has not deemed it necessary
to deal with self-induction, except in con-
nection with the question of sparking. The
numerical accuracy attempted has been
limited to that attainable with an ordinary
ten-inch slide rule, on which all the exam-
ples have been worked out. Importance is
attached to the graphic method of solution.

Of Dr. Frank Overtoil's three books on
Applied Physiology >,\ the first or primary
grade follows a natural order of treatment,
presenting in each subject elementary ana-
tomical facts in a manner that impresses
function rather than form, and from the
form described derives the function. The
facts and principles are then 'applied to
everyday life. The intermediate grade, be-
sides being an introduction to the study of
anatomy and physiology, is intended to be a
complete elementary book in itself, giving a
clear picture of how each organ of the body
performs its work. The advanced grade
book was suggested by a series of popular
lectures in which the author presented the
essential principles of physiology about
which a physician is consulted daily. His
explanations of many common facts were
"novel to his auditors, and it was found that
the school books were silent upon many of
these points, especially with regard to the
cells. Throughout the series the fact that

* Electro-Dynamics. The Direct-Current Mo-
tor. By Charles Ashley Carus-Wilson. New
York : Longmans, Green & Co. Pp. 298.

t Applied Physiology. Including the Effects
of Alcohol and Narcotics. By Frank Overton,
M. D. Primary Grade. Pp. 128. Intermediate
Grade. Pp. 188. Advanced Grade. Pp. 432.
American Book Company.

278

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

the cells are the units in which life exists
and acts is emphasized. The author has en-
deavored to include all the useful points of
the older text-books, and to add such new
matter as the recent progress of physiologi-
cal and hygienic science demands. Avoid-
ing technical terms, he has sought to express
the truths in simple language, " such as he
would use in instructing a mother as to the
nature of the sickness of her child." The
subjects of alcohol and other narcotics are
made prominent in all the books, and are
discussed fully in the third of the series.
The relation of respiration and oxidation to
the disappearance of food, to the production
of waste matters, and to the development of
heat and force, is dwelt upon. Simple and
easy demonstrations, many of them new,
are provided at the ends of chapters. A
chapter on Repairs of Injuries, or the res-
toration of the natural functions, when im-
paired, by the body, is new in a school text-
book.

In Yetta Segal* a slender thread of a
story is used by Mr. Rollin as the vehicle
for a theory of " type fusion " or convergence
which he thinks has not received sufficient
attention from social or scientific students.
There are a pair of lovers, one of whom is
discovered at a critical period in the court-
ship to have negro blood in his veins, and
a philosopher who comes forward to satisfy
the parties (who hardly need it) that this is
no serious matter, but is all according to
human evolution and the destiny of the
race. " You must be impressed," he says,
" by the fact that there are a great many
people here and there, of mixed blood, and
that the number is increasing ; ... it is
well that not a few are indeed truly admi-
rable specimens of the human race. Such
phenomena must be interpreted in a way
consistent with man's nature : if he is de-
velopmental ; if he shall attain a higher
status through struggle, or through means
that are seemingly, or for the time, degrad-
ing ; if he is moving from the simple to the
complex, as to organization ; if universal
movement tends to unific existence — then
race interchange, with elimination of pecul-
iar characteristics, has probably made its

* Yetta S6pi]. By Horace J. Rollin. N.w
York : G. W. Dillingham & Co. Pp. 174.

appearance as a phase of infinite order,
and for the benefit of future man. ... It
is presumptuous for the wisest to assert
that the man of lower type has no element
of strength peculiar to his race which the
most advanced does not need in his pres-
ent organization. It may be needed either
for present protection in the way of re-en-
forcement, or as an element of strength for
further advancement." Mr. Rollin does not
advocate type fusion or wish to accelerate
the movement, but presents it as a fact
and factor in human evolution deserving
more extensive and thorough study than it
has received.

The increasing attention which of late
years has been given to the study of com-
parative anatomy has finally resulted in what
promises to be a complete and detailed ac-
count of the structure of a subhuman mam-
mal* The author, Dr. Jayne, believes that
a course in mammalian anatomy offers a
valuable preliminary to the study of medi-
cine, and this is the purpose for which the
book has been made. This is to a certain
extent true, especially where, as in the case
of the cat, there is so close a similarity to
the structure of the human body. But the
chief scientific interest and value of such
a work must lie in its broader philosophic
aspects ; in the aid which it can not but give
in clearing up some of the many mooted
points of evolutional biology, and in the
stimulus which it will impart to the study of
relationships among the lower animals. The
present volume, the first of the series, deals
only with the skeleton of the cat, each bone
being first studied individually, then in its
relations to other bones and to the mus-
cular system and the skeleton as a whole,
and finally in comparison with the corre-
sponding portion of the human skeleton.
There are 611 extremely good illustrations,
and the printing of the volume is unusually
clean and attractive.

Among the articles of special value in
recent numbers of the (bimonthly) Bulletin
of the Department of Labor, under the edi-
torial control of Commissioner Carroll B.
Wright and Chief Clerk 0. D. Weaver, are

* The Mammalian Anatomy of the Cat. By
Horace Jayne, M. D. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippin-
cott Company. Illustrated. Pp.816. Price, $5.00.

SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE.

279

those on Boarding Houses and Clubs for
Working Women, by Mary S. Ferguson, in
the March number; The Alaskan Gold
Fields and the Opportunities they afford
for Capital and Labor, by S. C. Durham, in
the May number ; Economic Aspects of the
Liquor Problem ; Brotherhood Relief and In-
surance of Railway Employees, by E. R. John-
son, Ph. D. ; and The Nations of Antwerp, by
J. H. Gore, Ph.D., in the July number. Sum-
maries of reports of labor statistics, of legisla-
tion and decisions of courts affecting labor,
and of recent Government contracts constitute
regular departments of the bulletin. (Wash-
ington.)

For delicate humor and refined art of ex-
pression few writers can excel Jean Paul
Friedrich Richter, but the sources of his rich
flow of humor are so deeply hidden and his
expression is so very subtle that the gener-
ality of those who attempt to read his works
fail to appreciate him or even to understand
him, and give him up. The pleasure of appre-
ciating him is, however, worth the pains of
learning to do so. Those who are willing to
undertake this, and who read German, may
find help in the Selections from the Works of
Jean Paul Friedrich Richter, prepared by
George Stuart Collins, and published by the
American Book Company. The book is in-
tended for students of German who have at-
tained a certain mastery of the language.
Pains have been taken to avoid such passages
as might from their mere difficulty discourage
the reader, and to choose such as would be
complete in themselves. The selections are
made from the shorter writings of the au-
thor, and each is intended to be representa-
tive of some feature of his manifold genius
and style.

A notice of the Stenotypy, or system of
shorthand for the typewriter, of D. A.
Quinn, was published in the Popular Science
Monthly in March, 1896. It is really a sys-
tem of phonography to be used with the type-
writer whenever it is practicable to employ
that instrument. A second edition of Mr.
Quinn's manual and exercises for the prac-
tice of the system is published by the Ameri-
can Book Exchange, Providence, R. I.

A paper on Polished- Stone Articles used
by the New York Aborigines before and dur-
ing European Occupation, published as a

Bulletin of the New York State Museum, is
complementary to a previous bulletin on ar-
ticles of chipped stone. Both papers are by
the Rev. Dr. W. M. Beauchamp, and are illus-
trated by figures from his large collection of
original drawings, made in nearly all parts of
New York, but mostly from the central por-
tion. While the chipped implements are
more numerous and widespread than those
treated of in the present bulletin, the latter
show great patience and skill in their higher
forms and taste in selecting materials, and
they give hints of superstitions and ceremo-
nies not yet thoroughly understood.

Henry Goldman has invented, in the
arithmachine, what he claims is a rapid and
reliable computing machine of small dimen-
sions and large capacity, with other advan-
tages. He now offers, as a companion to it,
The Arithmachinist, a book intended to serve
as a self-instructor in mechanical arithme-
tic. It gives historical and technical chapters
on the calculating machines of the past, de-
scribes the principles controlling the con-
struction and operations, and furnishes ex-
planations concerning the author's own de-
vice. (Published by the Office Men's Record
Company, Chicago, for one dollar.)

The Bulletin from the Laboratories of Nat-
ural History of the State University of Iowa,
Vol. TV, No. 3, contains two technical ar-
ticles: On the Actinaria, collected by the
Bahama Expedition of the University, in
1891, by J. P. McMurrich, and the Brachyura
of the Biological Expedition to the Florida
Keys and the Bahamas in 1893, by Mary J.
Rathbun; and a list of the coleoptera of
Southern Arizona, by H. F. Wickham. Mr.
Wickham observes that the insects of north-
ern Arizona are widely different from those
of the southern part, a fact which he ascribes
to difference of altitude, and, consequently,
in vegetation. The Bulletin is sold for fifty
cents a copy.

Two books in English — Elementary Eng-
lish and Elements of Grammar and Compo-
sition — prepared by E. Oram Lyte, and pub-
lished by the American Book Company, are
intended to include and cover a complete
graded course in language lessons, grammar,
and composition for study in the primary
and grammar grades of schools. The en-
deavor has been made to present the subject

28o

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

in such a way that the pupil shall become
interested in the study from the first. The
first book, Elementary English, is designed
to furnish material for primary language
work, and to show how this material can be
used to advantage, embodying and represent-
ing the natural methods of language teach-
ing. The child is given something to do —
easy and practical — at every point, and is
not troubled by formal definitions and rules
to be committed to memory. The second
book is also based on the principle that the
best way to gain a working knowledge of the
English language is by the working or labora-
tory method. It is therefore largely made
up of exercises, and aims to teach through
practice. The subject is unfolded from a
psychological rather than a logical point of
view. What is to be memorized is reduced
to a minimum, and not presented till the
pupil is ready for it. The lessons in litera-
ture and composition are designed to help
the pupil to appreciate worth and beauty of
literature, and lead him to fluent and accu-
rate expression.

The Bulletin of the Geological Institution
of the University of Upsala presents a series
of special papers of much interest to students
of that science, on studies in geology, largely
of Scandinavia, but of other countries as well.
Part 2 of Vol. Ill, now before us, has such
papers on Silurian Coral Reefs in Gothland,
by Carl Wiman ; the Quaternary Mammalia
of Sweden, by Rutger Sernander; Some Ore
Deposits of the Atacama Desert, by Otto Nor-
denskiold ; the Structure of some Gothland-
ish Graphites, by Carl Wiman; the Inter-
glacial Submergence of Great Britain, by H.
Munthe ; Mechanical Disturbances and Chem-
ical Changes in the Ribbon Clays of Sweden,
by P. J. Holmquist ; Some Mineral Changes,
by A. G. Hogborn ; and the Proceedings of
the Geological Section of the Students' Asso-
ciation of Natural Science, Upsala. The ar-
ticles are in German, English, and (in pre-
vious numbers) French.

Two Spanish-American works of very dif-
ferent character have come to us from Val-
paraiso, Chili. One is entitled Literatura
Arcaica — Estudios Criticos, or critical studies
of old Spanish literature, by Eduardo de la
Barra, of the Royal Spanish Academy, which
were communicated to the Latin-American

Scientific Congress at Buenos Ayres. The
author was invited to present to the congress
the fruits of his extensive studies on the
Poem of the Cid, but afterward modified his
plan and gave these, the results of his more
general investigations of the romances of the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, which Span-
ish critics regard as the most ancient they
have, and other romances attributed to the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, with an
article on the Cid. This work is published
by K. Newman, Valparaiso.

The other book is a volume of Rrimas, or
rhymes, by Gustabo Adolf o Beker, published
by Carlos Cabezon, at Valparaiso. The ordi-
nary student might think that the Spanish
language is one of those least in need of
spelling reform, but not so the author and
publisher of these poems, which are pre-
sented in the most radically " reformed "
spelling, and with them comes a pamphlet
setting forth the character and principles of
" Ortografia Rrazional."

The report of a study of seventy-three
Irish and Irish-American criminals made at
the Kings County Penitentiary, Brooklyn,
N. Y., by Dr. H. L. Winter, and published
as Notes on Criminal Anthropology and Bio-
Sociology, contains numerous observations
bearing upon the effect of hereditary influ-
ences in criminality, but hardly sufficient to
justify the drawing of any general conclu-
sions.

The late Mr. Lewis M. Rutherfurd, in de-
veloping the art of astronomical photography,
naturally gave much attention to the star 61
Cygni — which was the first to yield its par-
allax, and through which the possibility of
measuring stellar distances was shown — and
its neighbors. A number of the plates of
this series were partially studied by Miss Ida
C. Martin more than twenty years ago, and
the study has now been carried out by Her-
man S. Davis, as part of the work of Colum-
bia University Observatory. The results of
Mr. Davis's labors are published by the ob-
servatory in three papers : Catalogue of Sixty-
five Stars near 61 Cygni ; The Parallaxes of
6 l l andGP Cygni ; and Catalogue of Thirty-
four Stars near " Bradley 3077 " ; under a
single cover.

In a small work entitled A Theory of
Life deduced from the Evolution Philosophy

SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE.

281

a few thoughts are recorded by Sylvan Drey
relative to the manner in which, from central
doctrines identical with the teachings of
Herbert Spencer, a system of religion, an
ideal society, a theory of ethics, and a polit-
ical creed — the doctrine of social individual-
ism — may be built up. The religion is to
recognize an inexplicable and inconceivable
energy revealing itself in the universe, of
which the highest theistic conception possible

to human beings, free from the supposition
that it represents a likeness, is the only one
that can be accepted. "Absolute truth is
beyond the grasp of human beings ; but for
all practical purposes the teachings of the
evolution philosophy, relative truths though
they may be, may be regarded as final and
conclusive." Mr. Drey's paper of thirty-four
pages is published by Williams & Norgate,
London.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Adams, Alexander. Mechanical Flight on
B?ating Wings. The Solution of the Problem.
Pp. 5.

Agricultural Experiment Stations. Bulletins
and Reports. New York: No. 143. A Destruc-
tive Beetle and a Remedy. By P H. Hall and V.
H. Lowe; No. 144. Combating Cabbage Pests.
By V. H. Hall and F. A. Sirrine. Pp. 8.— Ohio:
Newspaper, No. 186. Peach Yellows and Preven-
tion of Smut in Wheat. Pp. 2; No. 24. The
Maintenance of Fertility. Pp. 42.— United States
Department of Agriculture: No. 9. Cuckoos and
Shrikes in their Relation to Agriculture. By F.
E. L. Beal and Sylvester D. Judd. Pp. 25; No.
10. Life Zones and Crop Zones of the United
States. By C. Hart Merriam. Pp. 79; No. 11.
The Geographic Distribution of Cereals in North
America. By C. S. Punnb. Pp. 24; Division of
Statistics : Crop Circular for October, 1898. —
University of Illinois: No. 51. Variations in Milk
and Milk Produc ion. Summary. Pp. 40; No.
52. Orchard Cultivation. Pp. 24; No. 53. Ab-
stract. The Chemistry of the Corn Kernel. Pp. 4.

Allen, Alfred H. Commercial Organic Analy-
sis. Second edition, revised and enlarged. Pro-
teids and Albuminous Principles. Philadelphia:
P. Blakiston's Son & Co. Pp. 584. $4.50.

Atkinson, George Francis. Elementary Bot-
any. New York: Henry Holt & Co. Pp. 444.
$1.25.

Bulletins, Proceedings, and Reports. Ameri-
can Chemical Society : Directory. Pp.551. — Field
Columbian Museum, Chicago. Publication 28:
Ruins of X Kichmook, Yucatan. By Edward H.
Thompson. Pp. 16, with 18 plates. — Lake Mo-
honk Conference on International Arbitration:
Report of the Fourth Annual Meeting, 1898. Pp.
116. — Maryland Geological Survey: Report on the
Survey of the Boundary Line between Alleghany
and Garrett Counties. By L. A. Bauer. Pp. 48,
with 6 plates.— New York Academy of Sciences:
Annals. Vol. X. Pp. 292, with 5 plates; Vol.
XI, Part II. Pp. 168, with 20 plates.— Pennsylva-
nia Society for the Prevention of TubercuLsis:
Report for the Year ending April 13, 1S98. Pp.
16.— The Philadelphia Museums: The Philadel-
phia Commercial Museum. Pp. 16.— United
States Commissioner of Labor: Twelfth Annual
Report, 1897. Economical Aspects of the Liquor
Problem. Pp. 275.— University of Wisconsin:
Bulletin No. 25. The Action of Solutions on the
Sense of Taste. By Louis Kahlenberg. Pp. 82 —
University of Chicago: Anthropology. III. The
Mapa de Cuauhtlantzinco or Codice Campos. By
Frederick Starr. Pp. 38, with plates.— University
of Illinois: The New Requirements for Admis-
sion. By Stephen A. Forbes. Pp. 22.

Bailey, L. H. Sketch of the Evolution of our
Native Fruits. New York: The Macmillan Com-
pany. Pp. 472. $2.

Beddard, Frank E. Elementary ZoOlogy. New
York : Longmans, Green & Co. Pp. 208.

Brush, George J., and Penfield, Samuel L.
Manual of Determinative Mineralogy, with an In-
troduction on Blowpipe Analvsis. New York:
John Wiley & Sons. Fifteenth edition. Pp. 312.

Bryant, William M. Life, Death, and Immor-
tality, with Kindred Essays. New York: The
Baker & Taylor Company. Pp. 450. $1.75.

Carborundum manufactured under the Ache-
son Patents. Illustrated Catalogue. Niagara
Fills, N. Y. : The Carborundum Company. 'Pp.
61.

Carnegie, The, Steel Company, Limited, Pitts-
burg. Ballistic Tests of Armor Plate. By W. R.
Balsinger. Plates and letterpress descriptions.

Dana, Edward Salisbury. A Text-Book of
Mineralogy, with an Extended Treatise on Crys-
tallography and Physical Mineralogy. New
York: John Wiiey & Sons. Pp. 593. $4.

Darwin, George Howard. The Tides and
Kindred Phenomena in the Solar System. Bos-
ton and New Yoik: Bought .n, Mifflin & Co. Pp.
378. $2.

Giddings, Franklin Henry. The Elements of
Sociology. New York: The Macmillan Company.
Pp. 353. $1.10.

Guerber, H. A. The Story of the English.
American Book Company. Pp. 356.

Hough, Romeyn B. The American Woods.
Exhibited by Actual Specimens and with Copious
Explanatory Text. Part I. Representing twenty-
five species. Second edition. Lowvi le, N. Y.:
The author. Pp. 78, text.

James, William. Human Immortality. Two
Supposed Objections to the Doctrine. Boston
and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp.

70. $1.

Kunz, George F. The Fresh- Water Pearls and
Pearl fisheries of the United Stat s. United
States Fish Commission. Pp. 52, with 22 plates.

Le Bon, Gustave. The Psychology of Peo-
ples. New York: The Macmillan Company.
Pp. 236. $1.50.

Mill r, Adam. The Sun an Electric Light,
Chicago. Pp. 32.

Needham, James G. Outdoor Studies. A
Reading Book of Nature Study. American Book
Company. Pp. 90.

Newth, G. S. A Manual of Chemical Analy-
sis, Qualitative and Quantitative. New York:
Longmans, Green & Co. Pp. 462. $1.75.

Nipher, Francis E. An Introduction to Graph-
ical Algebra. New York: H. Holt & Co. Pp. 61.
60 cents.

Reprints. Giffordj John. Forestry on the Pen-
insula of Eastern Virginia. Pp. 3 ; Forestry in
Relation to Physical Geography and Engineering.
Pp. 19.— Hester, C. A. An Experimental Stuuy
of the Toxic Properties of lndol. Pp. 26, with
tables.— Hoffmann, Fred. Fragmentary Notes
from the Reports of Two Early Naturalists on
North America. Pp. 18. — Johnson, J. B. A
Higher Industrial and Commercial Education as
an Essential Condition of our Future Material
Prosperity. (An address ) Pp. 33.— Kain, Samuel
W., and Others. Seismic and Oceanic Noises.
Pp. 6. — Mayer, Hermann. Bows and Arrows in
Central Brazil. Pp. 36, with plates.— Packard,

282

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Alpheus S. A Half Century of Evolution, with
Special Reference to the Effect of Geological
Changes on Animal Life. (Presidential address
to American Association.) Pp. 48 — Rhees, Wil-
liam J. William Bower Taylor. Pp. 12. — Searcy,
J. T., M. D. How Education fails. Pp. 81.—
Shufeldt, R. W., M. D. On the Alternation of
Sex in a Brond of Young Sparrow Hawks. Pp. 4.
— Starr, Frederick. Notched Bones from Mexico.
A Shell Inscription from Tula, Mexico. Pp. 10. —
Woolman, Lewis. Report on Artesian Wells in
New Jersey, etc. Pp. 84.

Smithsonian Institution. United States Na-
tional Museum. The fr'isues of North and Mid-
dle America. By D. S. Jordan and B. W. Ever-
mann. Part II. Pp. 943.— The Birds of the
Kurile Islands. By Leonhard Stejneger. Pp. 28.
— On the Coleopterous Insects of the Galapagos
Islands. By Martin L. Linell. Pp. 20. — On Some
New Parasitic Insects of the Subfamily Encys-
tinse. By L. O. Howard. Pp. 18.— Descriptions
of the Species of Cycadeoidea, or Fossil Cyca-
dean Trunks, thus far determined from the Lower
Cretaceous Rim of the Black Hills. By Le6ter
F. Ward. Pp. 36.

Socialist, The, Almanac and Treasury of Facts.
New York: Socialistic Co-operative Publishing
Association. Prepared by Lucien Sanal. Pp.232.
(The People's Library. (Quarterly. 60 cents a
year.)

Thompson, Ernest Seton. Wild Animals I
have known, and Two Hundred Drawings. New
York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp.359. $2.

Todd, Mabel Loomis. Corona and Coronet.
Being a Narrative of the Amherst Eclipse Expe-
dition to Japan, 1896, etc. Boston and New
York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp 383. $2.50.

Trowbridge, John. Philip's Experiments, or
Physical Science at Home. New York: D. Ap-
pleton and Company. Pp. 228. $1.

United States Geological Survey. Bulletin
No. 88. The Cretaceous Foraminifera oi New
Jersey. By R. M. Bagg, Jr. Pp. 89, with 6 plates.
— No. 89. Some Lava Flows from the Western
Slope of the Sierra Nevada, California. Pp. 74. —
No. 149. Bibliography and Index of North Amer-
ican Geology, Palaeontology, Petrology, and Min-
eralogy for 1898. By F. B. Weeks. Pp. 152.—
Monograph. Vol. XXX. Fossil Medusae. By
Chark-s Doolittle Walcott. Pp. 201, with 47
plates.

Universalist Register, The, for 1868. Edited
by Richard Eddy, D. D. Boston : Universalist
Publishing House. Pp. 120. 20 cents.

Warman, Cy. The Story of the Railroad. New
York: D. Appleton and Company. (Story of the
West Seiies.) Pp. 280.

Waterloo, Stanley. Armageddon. A Tale of
Love, War, and Invention. Pp. 259.

Whiting Paper Company, Holyoke, Mass. The
Evolution of Paper. Pp. 20. Chicago and New
York: Rand, McNally & Co.

Wilson, J. Self-Control, or Life without a
Master. New York: Lemcke & Biichner.

Worcester, Dean C. The Philippine Islands
and their People. New York: The Macmillan
Company. Pp. 529. $4.

Wyckoff, Walter A. The Workers. An Ex-
periment in Reality. The West. New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp.378. $1.50.

ffvaijrajetits of M>timtt.

Tree Planting in the Arid Regions. — In

planting the arid and subarid regions of the
country, where no trees are growing natu-
rally, Mr. B. E. Fernow says, in a review of
the work of the Department of Forestry,
different methods of cultivation from those
given in the humid parts are necessary, and
the plant material has to be selected with a
view to a rigorous climate characterized by
extreme ranges of temperature varying from
—40° to + 120° F, The requirements of the
plants for moisture must be of the slightest,
and they must be capable of responding to
the demands of evaporation. At first, what-
ever trees will grow successfully from the
start under such untoward conditions would
have to be chosen, no matter what their
qualities otherwise might be. The first set-
tlers have ascertained by trials some of the
species that will succeed under such condi-
tions, but unfortunately most of them are
of but small economic value, and some of
them are only short-lived under the conditions
in which they have to grow. A few years

ago Mr. Fernow came to the conclusion that
the conifers, especially the pines, would fur-
nish more useful and otherwise serviceable
material for the arid regions. Besides their
superior economical value, they require less
moisture than most of the deciduous trees
that have been planted, and they would, if
once established, persist more readily through
seasons of drought and be longer lived. A
small trial plantation on the sand hills of
Nebraska lent countenance to this theory. It
being vastly more difficult to establish the
young plants in the first place than in the
case of deciduous trees, much attention was
given to the provision for protection of the
seedlings from sun and winds ; and they
were planted in mixture with "nurse trees''
that would furnish not too much and yet
enough shade. " It can not be said that the
success in using these species has so far been
very encouraging ; nevertheless, the failure
may be charged rather to our lack of knowl-
edge and to causes that can be overcome
than to any inherent incapacity in the spe-

FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE.

283

ties." The experiments should therefore be
continued.

" The Venerable Bede's " Chair.— In an

article in a recent issue of Architecture and
Building, on Ancient and Modern Furniture,
by F. T. Hodgson, the following interesting
account of the chair of " the Venerable
Bede " occurs : " Perhaps the best-known
relic, so far as furniture is concerned of this
early period, is the chair of ' the Venerable
Bede,' which is still preserved in the vestry
of Jassova Church, Northumberland, Eng-
land. This chair is distinctively an eccle-
siastical one — a throne, in fact, of some dig-
nity. It is made of oak and is four feet ten
inches high. There are many engravings of
it, but I reproduce from one of the best.
The chair is now well on to twelve hundred
years old, and if cared for as it ought to be
is good for several hundred years more.
There is a popular tradition concerning this
chair that is worthy of notice It is said
that to this ancient relic all the brides repair
as soon as the marriage service is over, in
order that they may seat themselves in it.
This, according to the popular belief, will
make them joyful mothers of children ; and
to omit this custom the expectant mothers
would not consider the marriage ceremony
complete, and in default thereof of being en-
throned in ' the Venerable Bede's chair '
barrenness and misery would surely follow.
Like all other relics of the sort, it is subject
to attacks of the sacrilegious penknives, to-
gether with the wanton depredations of relic
hunters, and has been so shorn of its fair
proportions that very soon there will be lit-
tle of it left but its attenuated form if stricter
watch is not kept over it."

The Physics of Smell.— The principal
subject of Prof. W. E. Ayrton's vice-presi-
dential address on physics at the British
Association was the physics of smell, which
was presented as a subject that had been
but little studied. In testing the generally
accepted idea that metals have smell, based
on the fact that a smell is perceived with
most of the commercial metals when han-
dled, the author had observed that when
these metals were cleaned or made outward-
ly pure the smell disappeared. Yet it is
shown that these metals acquire smells when

they are handled or abraded by friction,
which are characteristic and serve to dis-
tinguish them. This may be ascribed to
chemical action, but not all chemical action
in which metals may take part produces
smell ; for when they are rubbed with soda
or with sugar no smell but that of soda or of
sugar is perceived ; nor is the metallic smell
observed when dilute nitric acid is rubbed
on certain metals, though the chemical
action is very marked with some. But
mere breathing on certain metals, even
when they have been rendered practically
odorless by cleaning, produces a very distinct
smell, as also does touching them with the
tongue. These smells have hitherto been
attributed to the metals themselves, but
Professor Ayrton looks for their source in
the evolution of hydrogen, which carries
with it impurities, hydrocarbons, especially
paraffin, and " it is probable that no metallic
particles, even in the form of vapor, reach
the nose or even leave the metal. While
smells usually appear to be diffused with
great velocity, experiments prove that when
the space through which they have to pass
is free from draughts their progress is very
slow, and it would therefore appear that the
passage of a smell is far more due to the
actual motion of the air containing it than
to the diffusion of the odoriferous sub-
stance through the air." The power of a
smell to cling to a substance does not appear
to depend on its intensity or on the ease
with which it travels through a closed
space. Experiments to determine whether
smells could pass through glass by transpi-
ration either revealed flaws in the glass or
ended in the breaking of the very thin bulbs
and gave no answer.

The Cordillera Region of Canada. — A

length of nearly thirteen hundred miles of
the great mountainous or Cordillera region of
the Pacific coast is included in the western
part of Canada. Most of this, Mr. George
M. Dawson says, in a paper on the Physical
Geography and Geology of Canada, is em-
braced in the province of British Columbia,
where it is about four hundred miles wide
between the Great Plains and the Pacific
Ocean. To the north it is included in the
Yukon district of the Northwest Territory
till it reaches, in a less elevated and more

284

P OP ULAR S CIENCE MONTHL Y.

widely spread form, the shores of the Arctic
Ocean on one side and on the other passes
across the one hundred and forty-first
meridian of west longitude into Alaska. The
orographic features of this region are very
complicated in detail. No existing map yet
properly represents even the principal phys-
ical outlines, and the impression gained by
the traveler or explorer may well be one of
confusion. There are, however, the two
dominant mountain systems of the Rocky
Mountains and the Coast Range. As a
whole, the area of the Cordillera in Canada
may be described as forest-clad, but the
growth of trees is more luxuriant on the
western slopes of each of the dominant
mountain ranges, in correspondence with the
greater precipitation occurring on these
slopes. This is particularly the case in the
coast region and on the seaward side of the
Coast Range, where magnificent and dense
forests of coniferous trees occupy almost the
whole available surface. The interior pla-
teau, however, constitutes the southern part
of a notably dry belt, and includes wide
stretches of open grass-covered hills and
valleys, forming excellent cattle ranges.
Farther north, along the same belt, similar
open country appears intermittently, but the
forest invades the greater part of the region.
It is only toward the arctic coast, in rela-
tively very high latitude, that the barren
arctic tundra country begins, which, sweep-
ing in wider development to the westward,
occupies most of the jnterior of Alaska.
With certain exceptions the farming land of
British Columbia is confined to the valleys
and tracts below three thousand feet, by rea-
son of the summer frosts occurring at greater
heights. There is, however, a considerable
area of such land in the aggregate, with a
soil generally of great fertility. In the
southern valleys of the interior irrigation is
necessary for the growth of crops.

The u Rabies " Bacillus. — Ever since
the discovery of Pasteur that an attenuated
virus made from the medulla or spinal cord
of a dog affected by rabies was, when ad-
ministered in graduated doses, a specific
against the disease, bacteriologists have been
eagerly seeking to isolate the rabies bacillus.
A number of observers, among them Toll,
Rivolta, and San Felice, have succeeded in

staining a bacillus which they claimed to be
that of rabies. Memno, of Rome, confirmed
the observations of the preceding, and
proved the virulent character of the micro-
organism, which he described as a blastomy-
cete. He has quite recently succeeded in
cultivating the bacillus in artificial media
and producing typical rabies in dogs, rodents,
and birds by inoculations. He found that
the bacillus grew better in fluid than in solid
media, the best being bouillon with glucose
slightly acidulated with tartaric acid. The
growth did not become manifest under a
week, and was easily arrested by " air infec-
tion." It would thus seem that we have at
last certainly established the bacterial origin
of rabies.

The St. Kildaus.— St. Kilda, the farthest
out to sea of all the British Isles, is a rounded
mountain with " stack rocks " and islets
round it, rises twelve hundred and twenty
feet in height, and contains a settlement of
about seventy-five men, women, and chil-
dren — almost the only representatives left
on the British Islands of man in the hunt-
ing age. On one of the subsidiary islands,
Boreray, is gathered the main body of the
sea birds for which the island is famous ;
and on a third, Soa, are the diminutive de-
scendants of Viking sheep, left by old sea
rovers. Mr. R. Kearton, who has recently
visited the islands for recreation among the
sea birds, represents that in the little com-
munity of its people the ordinary and ex-
traordinary operations of fife seem inverted.
Sport is a serious work ; sheep herding and
shearing are an exciting sport. A St. Kil-
dan qualifies for marriage by proving his
courage and skill as a fowler, by standing on
a dizzy precipice called Lover's Stone, and
goes out bird snaring with a serious face.
When he wants a sheep for the butcher, he
asks his friends to a sheep hunt in the island
of Soa, in which dogs and men pursue the
animals from rock to rock. An offer made
by a factor to supply the people with nets,
so that they might catch the sheep with
more humanity and less waste of life, was
rejected by them. They preferred the old
methods, which supplied plenty of danger
and excitement. While the sheep are hunted,
the cows are thoroughly .spoiled. Every day
the women are seen hard at work picking

FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE.

285

dock leaves and storing them in baskets for
the cows at milking time, for they will not
be milked unless they are fed. The sheep
on Soa Island are plucked instead of being
sheared, at the time when the wool would
naturally be shed, and what wool will not
come off in this way is cut off with a pocket
knife. When the steamer with Mr Kearton
reached the island, no one came down to
meet it till the whistle had been blown two
or three times. "It was not etiquette to
rush down like a parcel of savages," but the
people " retire to tidy themselves, and then
row out and call in proper form."

The Island of Sakhalin. — Mr. Benjamin
Howard, an English visitor at the recent
meeting of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, presented before
Section E of that body an interesting ac-
count of the great but little-known island of
Sakhalin, more generally spelled Saghalien
in our geographies. Mr. Howard, however,
strongly urged the former spelling, as most
correctly representing the name, which is
always pronounced by the Russians in three
syllables, with the accent on the first. It is
now used as a penal colony by the Russian
Government, and a more hopelessly remote
and inaccessible spot for such a purpose can
hardly be found. To it are sent the hardest
cases among the Siberian prisoners ; and Mr.
Howard spoke of becoming accustomed, dur-
ing his stay there, to meeting scarcely any
human beings but murderers, except, of
course, the guards and officials. The island
is extremely inaccessible ; there is no com-
merce, and neither inducement nor opportu-
nity for vessels to touch there, while much
of the coast is ice-bound for a large part of
the year. Mr. Howard, who was engaged in
some scientific work on the island in the
service of the Government, is one of the
very few foreigners who have traveled or re-
sided there at all. He predicts for Sakhalin,
however, a future of considerable importance
ultimately, though only after a long period
of preliminary development and exploitation
as a penal colony, which stage has but lately
been begun. It has forest and mining re-
sources — among the latter, coal ; the deposits
are near the surface, but thus far have been
very little examined. He was unable to give
any data as to their geological age or actual

extent; but the Government will no doubt
soon make investigations. The most re-
markable possibilities, however, are in the
line of fisheries, the coasts swarming with
fish to an extent that is scarcely credible by
one who has not seen them. Mr. Howard
said jocosely that he would hardly dare to
relate what he had personally witnessed, in
view of the usual reputation of " fish stories."
The climate is of course rigorous, under the
influence of cold northern currents, and
markedly in contrast with that of the same
latitude on the American side of the Pacific,
where the Japan current carries its modify-
ing influence as the Gulf Stream does to
northern Europe. Some agriculture, how-
ever, is possible during the short summer,
and the penal colonists have made fair be-
ginnings of self-support. He referred fur-
ther to a remnant of native Aino population
as very interesting from the fact that they
have preserved their peculiarities of life and
manners, and their purity of stock, much
more completely through their isolation than
the Ainos of the Japanese Islands, who have
been modified more or less by association
with the latter people.

Technical and Popular Names. — In a

paper criticising the multiplication of local
names in geology, Prof. C. E. Keyes distin-
guishes between names devised with a eon-
scientious desire to better the condition of a
science by clothing the new ideas with simple
words and those which are the product of a
name-making mania. " The first can not be
too highly commended, nor the second too
deeply deplored." Every progressive science
must discard the names that have served
their purpose, and must be prepared to re-
ceive all of the new ones demanded. The
sciences have each two phases, for each of
which a terminology is demanded, in one of
which the names must be technical and spe-
cial, established primarily for the investiga-
tor, and in the other general, popular, sim-
ple, and free from technical appearance ; but
the distinction is rarely made. Those who
object to the prevalence of technical names
in other sciences seldom reflect that they
have them in their own art. Yet if a man
of science should desire to familiarize himself
with the artisan's work, " he would be, after
five minutes' talk with a machinist or elec-

286

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

trician, confronted by so many unfamiliar
terms — technical terms of everyday use —
that he would at once cry out for greater
simplicity of language." In the geological
sciences the technicalities play the same part
they do in the arts and in business. Every
new name in geology, however, must be prop-
erly defined before it can be noticed, and its
subsequent career will depend on its utility.
It may be said that no greater boon to the
working geologist has been devised than the
plan of designating geographically geological
units irrespective of exact position or age.
Since its adoption a vast mass of valuable
information has been obtained that was pre-
viously unthought of, and is in a shape to
be always used ; the other departments of
geology have been much aided, and strati-
graphical geology has been greatly helped.

The Origin of a Cnrions Habit.— The

following paragraphs are taken from a recent
Nature. It is well known that the kea, or
mountain parrot of New Zealand, has ac-
quired the habit of attacking sheep, and
making holes by means of its sharp and pow-
erful beak in the backs of these animals for
the purpose of abstracting the kidney fat,
which appears to be esteemed as a luxurious
diet. It is supposed that this peculiar habit
or instinct was developed by the bird getting
the fat from the skins of sheep that had been
slaughtered, but this solution is not very sat-
isfactory, as there appears nothing to connect
the fat on the skins of sheep with the live
animals. In a note published in the Zoologist
(May 16th), Mr. F. R. Godfrey, writing from
Melbourne, offers the following solution of the
mystery, which seemed to him to be simple
and satisfactory, and more rational than the
skeepskin theory : In the hilly districts of
the middle island of New Zealand there is
a great abundance of a white moss, or lichen,
which exactly resembles a lump of white
wool, at the roots of which are found small
white fatty substances, supposed by some to
be the seeds of the plant, and by others to
be a grub or maggot which infests it, which
is the favorite food of the kea. Probably
the bird, misled by this resemblance, com-
menced an exploration in sheep, and this
proving satisfactory, originated the new habit.
In a note to this suggestion the editor points
out that Mr. Godfrey is in agreement with

another observer — Mr. F. R. Chapman— who
in describing the hills of this island says :
"A very interesting raoulia, or vegetable
sheep, was very plentiful on steep, rocky
places. ... It is said that the keas tear
them up with their powerful beaks, and that
these birds learned to eat mutton through
mistaking dead sheep for masses of raoulia."

Changes in Plant Characters. — From ex-
periments upon the cultural evolution of
Cyclamen lafifolium, W. T. Thiselton Dyer
finds that, when once specific stability has
been broken down in a plant, morphological
changes of great variety and magnitude can
be brought about in a comparatively short
space of time. It appears that though sud-
den variations do occur, they are, as far as
we know, slight as long as self-fertilization
is adhered to. The striking results obtained
by cultivators have been due to the patient
accumulation by selection of gradual but con-
tinuous variation in any desired direction.
The size which any variable organ can reach
does not appear to be governed by any prin-
ciple of correlation. Large flowers are not
necessarily accompanied by large leaves.
The general tendency of a plant varying
freely under artificial conditions seems to be
atavistic — or to shed adaptive modifications
which have ceased to be useful, and to revert
to a more generalized type, or to reproduce
characters which are already present in other
members of the same group. But this state-
ment must be accepted with caution. The
most remarkable phenomenon in the cultiva-
tion of the Cyclamen is the development of
a plume or crest on the inner surface of each
corolla segment. This shows that the plant
still possesses the power to strike out a new
line and to develop characters which would
even be regarded as having specific value.

Hanging an Elephant. — One of the ele-
phants in Barnum and Bailey's show, having
repeatedly shown signs of insubordination
and bad temper, it was finally decided to kill
him. From a note in Nature we get the
following account of his execution : After
considerable discussion it was decided to
strangle him. A new Manila rope was
loosely wound three times around his neck,
and his legs, fully stridden, were securely
chained each to a post firmly driven into the

FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE.

287

ground alongside each limb. The animal
was intentionally not isolated from his fel-
lows, as it was feared that if placed by itself
it would become restive and ill-tempered.
The rope surrounding the beast's neck had
one end secured to three strong pillars in the
ground, some distance away and slightly in
advance of the fore feet; and the other,
which terminated in a loop, was hooked to a
double series of pulleys, to the tackle of
which ninety men were attached. When all
was ready, the slack was gently, quietly,
and without any apparent annoyance to the
elephant — which kept on eating hay — taken
in till the coils round its neck were just taut.
The word was then given, " Walk away with
the rope." Amid perfect silence the ninety
men walked away, without apparently any
effort. So noiselessly and easily did every-
thing work that, unless with foreknowledge

of what was going to take place, one might
have been present without realizing what the
march of these men meant. The elephant
gave no sign of discomfort either by trunk
or tail. Its fellows standing close by looked
on in pachydermatous unconcern, and at the
end of exactly thirty seconds it slowly col-
lapsed and lay down as if of its own accord.
There was absolutely no struggle and no
motion, violent or otherwise, in any part of
the body, nor the slightest indication of pain.
In a few seconds more there was no response
obtained by touching the eyeball. At the
end of thirteen minutes after the order to
" walk away " the eye had become rigid and
dim. That no more humane, painless, and
rapid method of taking the life of a large
animal could be devised was the opinion
of all the experts who witnessed the exe-
cution.

MINOR PARAGRAPHS.

Count Gleichen relates, in his story of
the mission to Menelek, that besides the
Maria Theresa 1780 dollars, the people of
Abyssinia, for small change, use a bar of
hard crystallized salt, about ten inches long
and two inches and a half broad and thick,
slightly tapered toward the end, five of which
go to the dollar at the capital. People are
very particular about the standard of fineness
of the currency. " If it does not ring like
metal when flicked with the finger nail, or if
it is cracked or chipped, they won't take it.
It is a token of affection also, when friends
meet, to give each other a lick of their re-
spective amolis, and in this way the material
value of the bar is also decreased. For still
smaller change cartridges are used, of which
three go to one salt. It does not matter
what sort they are. Some sharpers use their
cartridges in the ordinary way, and then put
in some dust and a dummy bullet to make
up the difference, or else they take out the
powder and put the bullet in again, so that
possibly in the next action the unhappy seller
will find that he has only miss-fires in his
belt ; but this is such a common fraud that
no one takes any notice of it, and a bad car-
tridge seems to serve as readily as a good
one."

A study of problems in the Psychology
of Reading, by J. 0. Quantz, bore upon the

questions of the factors which make a rapid
reader, the relations of rapidity to mental
capacity and alertness, quickness of visual
perception, and amount of practice ; and
whether those who gain their knowledge
principally through the eye or through
the ear obtain and retain most from read-
ing. The author finds that colors are more
easily perceived than geometrical forms,
isolated words than colors, and words in con-
struction than disconnected words ; that per-
sons of visual type are slightly more rapid
readers than those of the auditory type ; that
rapid readers, besides doing their work in less
time, do superior work, retaining more of the
substance of what is read and heard than do
slow readers. Lip movement is a serious
hindrance to speed, and consequently to in-
telligence, of reading. The disadvantage ex-
tends to reading aloud. Apart from external
eonditions, such as time of day, physical fa-
tigue, etc., some of the influences contribut-
ing to rapidity of reading are largely physio-
logical, as visual perception ; others are of
mental endowment, as alertness of mind ;
still others are matters of intellectual equip-
ment rather than intellectual ability, as ex-
tent of reading and scholarly attainment.

Mr. Merton L. Miller, of the University
of Chicago, says, in his preliminary study of
the Pueblo of Taos, New Mexico, that he was

288

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

hampered in his researches there by a cir-
cumstance that illustrates very well certain
characteristics of the Indian. About fifteen
years ago representatives of the Government
were at Sia making investigations, and had to
ask many questions. Some time after they
went away there was much sickness in the
pueblo, and many people died. It occurred
to the Sia people that the presence of those
white men, asking so many questions, was
the cause of all their trouble ; so they sent
men to the other pueblos to warn them
against white men who came to find out
about their customs and beliefs. These
messengers also came to Taos, and the people
remembered their warning well. If a Taos
Indian is caught now teaching the language
or telling any of the traditions to a white
man, he is liable to a whipping and a fine.
This, Mr. Miller believes, accounts for the
fact that he could rarely learn anything from
his friend when they were at the pueblo,
although when away in the mountains he
became much more open and communica-
tive.

NOTES.

The cigarette has found friends. The
Truth about Cigarettes embodies the sub-
stance of papers read and discussed at the
Medico-legal Society of New York. The gist
of the papers is to the effect that the stories
of harm done by cigarettes are fictions or
gross exaggerations; that they contain no
opium, arsenic, or other poisons, but are the
best pure tobacco (1.0926 grammes each)
wrapped in pure paper (0.038 gramme); that
they never caused a case of insanity; and
that they are simply injurious in the same
way and to a corresponding extent as other
forms of tobacco. These statements are sup-
ported by certificates of physicians and by
reviews of special cases of insanity charged
to cigarettes, showing that the insanity had
matured independently of them.

The average annual temperature at Ma-
nila is given by Mr. W. F. R. Phillips, in a
paper on the subject, as 80° F. April, May,
and June are the hottest months, May being
the hottest of the three, and December and
January are the coolest. The highest ther-
mometer reading recorded is 100° F. in May,
and the lowest 74° in January. The average
annual rainfall is 75.43 inches, more than 80
per cent of which descends in the months from
June to October, inclusive. Departures from
the average rainfall are sometimes excessive.
For example, as much as 120.98 inches have
fallen in one year, and as little as 35.65
inches in another. Still more remarkable

were the fall of 61.43 inches in one September,
and that of only two inches in another Sep-
tember.

At the observatory of Yale University, as
we learn from the annual report, a planned
series of twelve measures each has been
completed for eighty-four stars of large,
proper motion, with a view to determinations
of parallax, and it is expected shortly to
bring the number up to one hundred. A
series of measures on highly colored red stars
has been begun, and is in progress for the
purpose of testing the possibility of a sys-
tematic error due to the lesser refrangibil-
ity of their light. The photographic instru-
ment has been put into use at every suitable
period of meteorological displays of conse-
quence. Preparations are already making
for a more complete observation of the
Leonid meteoric shower expected in 1899.

The New York State College of Forestry,
in connection with Cornell University, was
presented by Professor Fernow, at the Boston
meeting of the American Association, as a
logical sequence to the policy to which the
State of New York was committed in 1885
by the purchase of more than a million acres
of forest land in the Adirondack Mountains,
to be gradually increased to three million
acres. A demonstration area of thirty thou-
sand acres in the Adirondacks has since
been provided for it. The courses leading to
the degree of Bachelor in Forestry occupy
four years, of which the first two are devoted
to the studies in which mathematics, physics,
chemistry, geology, botany, entomology, po-
litical economy, etc., figure as fundamental
and supplementary sciences, in addition to
the professional courses ; besides which two
courses of a more or less popular character
are contemplated.

The discovery is announced in a prelim-
inary communication by Dr. Issutschenko, of
Russia, of a microbe pathogenic to rats. An
epidemic having broken out among the rats
kept for experimental purposes in the Gov-
ernment Agricultural Laboratory, a bacillus
was isolated from the liver and spleen of
affected animals that proved excessively
fatal to rats and mice. Experiments in
making the organism useful as a living rat
poison have not yet, however, had an encour-
aging success.

New Zealand has just definitely adopted
a scheme of old-age pensions. In future the
New Zealand workingman of sixty-five years
of age, who has lived a life of hoDest toil,
will be assured an income of one pound a
week.

The Wilde prize of the French Academy
of Sciences has been awarded by that body
to Charles A. Schott, chief of the Compute
tion Division of the United States Coast and
Geodetic Survey, for his work on Terrestrial
Magnetism.

AUGUST VON KEKULfi.

APPLETONS'

POPULAR SCIENCE

MONTHLY.

JANUARY, 1899.
THE EVOLUTION OF COLONIES.

By JAMES COLLIER.

VI.— INDUSTRIAL EVOLUTION.

f I ^HE earliest nomadic stage of mankind has left traces in many
-*- of the colonies. The first age of French Canada, of New York,
of great pa -t of North America, was one of hunters and trappers, and
it has continued in the Northwest till recent times. The first brief
period of Rhodesia was that of the big-game hunter. The Boers of
the Transvaal are still as much hunters as farmers. The American
backwoodsman who clears a patch, then sells his improvements to the
first newcomer, and, placing his wife and children and scanty belong-
ings on a cart, proceeds da capo elsewhere, is a nomadic pioneer. The
stage is in one way or another perpetual, for the class never quite dies
out. The drunken English quarryman who, driven by a demon of
restlessness, continually goes " on tramp," and in his wanderings
covers on foot a space equal to twice the circumference of the globe,
is a demi-savage whose nomadism is only checked by the " abhorred
approaches of old age." If he emigrates, he repeats the old, wild
life as a pick-and-shovel man in Queensland or a quarryman in New
South Wales. The soberer colonial youth, who more luxuriously
canters from farm to farm in New Zealand on the back of a scrub,
is a tamer specimen who settles down when he marries. Nay, the
" restless man " who periodically applies for leave of absence from a
colonial legislature in order to travel in India, China, and Timbuctoo,
is a still milder but not less incorrigible example of the same inde-
structible type.

The pastoral stage is all but universal. Wherever grass grows

VOL. LIV. — 21

290 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

(and there is wild grass almost everywhere) sheep can graze, and
where there are succulent twigs cattle will fatten on them. The South
American estancias and the ranches of Colorado, the cattle runs of
Queensland and northern New Zealand, the sheep runs of Victoria
and New South Wales repeat and perpetuate this stage. The genesis
of it may even now be daily observed. A Manchester accountant
who has never before been astride a horse will in twelve months
learn the mysteries of cattle and sheep farming, then purchase a
hundred acres or two from the colonial Government, gradually clear
it of timber, build of his own trees, with no skilled assistance, a
weatherboard cottage, and take home a swiftly wooed wife to lead
with him a rather desolate existence in " the bush." Or (on a larger
scale) a squatter,* who is commonly a gentleman by birth and educa-
tion, comes out from England with inherited wealth, buys or leases
from the Government a large inland tract of grazing land, takes with
him flocks and herds, shepherds and stockmen, builds a bark or wooden
manor house, and settles down to the life of Abram on the plains of
Mamre. In earlier days, when the colony was in its infancy, he
would not have had to purchase or lease his " run." One country
after another saw the golden age of a would-be landed aristocracy.
As Norman "William parceled out all England among his nobles and
knights, rulers of conquered countries were then mighty free with
what did not belong to them. Possessing the authority of a sover-
eign, Columbus made lavish grants of land, and thus pacified his
rebels. Charles II presented Carolina to eight proprietors. Bar-
onies of twelve thousand acres in South Carolina, manors of
twenty thousand acres in Maryland, were dwarfed by territorial
principalities of more than a million acres in New York. The abso-
lute governors of early Australia gave away wide tracts. When land
was not given it was taken, on Kob Koy's principle. During the in-
terregnum that followed the recall of the first Governor of New South
Wales, military robbers seized fifteen thousand acres, and under sub-
sequent administrations they continued their depredations. Land
was held on various tenures. The first American forms were varieties
of belated feudalism ; of a hundred often strange and ridiculous em-
blems of suzerainty perhaps a dozen repeated Old World customs, f
Sir H. S. Maine has proved that nearly all the feudal exactions
that maddened a whole people to mutiny in 1789 were then in force
in England. How shadowy they must have grown is shown by the

* In its primary American sense the word squatter denotes the backwoodsman described
in the foregoing paragraph. In its secondary Australian sense it means the large land-
holder now described.

f See an instructive article by Mr. Edward Eggleston, Social Conditions in the Colonies.
Century Magazine, 1884, pp. 849, 850.

THE EVOLUTION OF COLONIES. 291

fact that none of them was transported to Botany Bay in that or
later years. They were atrophied portions of the British land system
when Australia was founded in 1788. For fully sixteen years the
possession of lands granted or seized was as absolute as the English
law ever allows it to be. Then the landholders, finding the large
tracts already conceded insufficient for the development of the pas-
toral industry, applied for more, and themselves suggested in 1803 a
plan of leasing crown lands which in the following year was legalized
as " the first charter of squatterdom " ; it was the beginning of a
system that has brought under pastoral occupancy territories as ex-
tensive as the largest European countries. The land system formed
part of or gave birth to a political organization. A host of so-called
seigneurs imported into old Canada as much of the ancien regime
as would bear the voyage. Manors in Maryland reproduced the
feudal courts-baron and courts-leet. The great New York land-
owners, as inheriting both English and Dutch institutions, presided
in such courts and were at the same time hereditary members
of a powerful legislative order.* The courts were dropped on
the way out to Australia, but the political influence of the Eng-
lish landed aristocracy inhered in their representatives at the
antipodes. As the Southern slavearchy, through its Washingtons
and Jeffersons, Clays and Calhouns, was for three quarters of a cen-
tury the driving force in American politics, the Australian squatter-
archy for one generation or more ruled the seven colonies with a sway
that waxed as the absolute power of the governor waned. It com-
posed the legislature, appointed the judges, controlled the executive,
and if the governor was refractory it sent him home. In both south-
ern countries social life reflected its tastes and was the measure of its
grandeur. It constituted " society," ran the races, gave the balls,
and kept open house; the surrounding villages lived in its sunshine.
Why could not this patriarchal state last, as it has lasted in Arabia
for thousands of years and in Europe for centuries? In the Southern
States it was brought to bankruptcy by the civil war. In Australia
it collapsed before two enemies as deadly — a succession of droughts
and a fall in the price of wool. The banker has his foot on the
squatter's neck. If one may judge from the published maps, three
fourths of the freehold land in the older colonies is in the hands
of the money lenders. The once lordly runholder, who would have
excluded from his table, or at least from his visiting; circle, anv one
engaged in commerce, is now the tenant of a mortgage company
which began by using him too well and ended by crushing him un-
mercifully.

It is also brought to a close by the rise of the agricultural stage.

* EgglestoD, op. cit., p. 850.

2 9 z POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

The colonial latifundia gets broken up for the same economic reasons
as that of the mother country. Whenever from the increase of popu-
lation wheat-growing becomes more profitable than grazing, land
rises in value, and vast sheep walks are subdivided into two-hundred-
acre farms, which are put under the plow. The transition may be
retarded in some countries and altogether arrested in others. Nasse
has shown that, in consequence of the moisture of the climate, there
was in the sixteenth century a continual tendency in England to
revert from agriculture to pasture. The light rainfall, high tempera-
tures, and unfertilized soil will forever keep nine tenths of Australia
under grass. Most of the mountainous north and the glacier-shaved
portions of the south of New Zealand must be perpetual cattle runs
and sheep walks. A century or perhaps centuries will pass before
much of the light soil of Tasmania, hardly enriched by the scanty
foliage of the eucalyptus, is sufficiently fertilized by grazing to grow
corn. Rich alluvial or volcanic lands are put under the plow, with-
out passing through the pastoral stage, as soon as markets are created
by the advent of immigrants. There is a cry for farm lands. Com-
panies that have bought large estates break them up into allotments.
When they or other large landholders still resist pressure, the radical
colonial legislature accelerates their deliberations by putting on the
thumbscrew of a statute which confiscates huge cantles of their land.
Or the colonial Government, if socialist-democratic, purchases exten-
sive properties, which it breaks up into farms and communistic vil-
lage settlements. Over wide tracts the agriculturist, great and small,
takes the place of the pastoralist. He holds his lands under a variety
of tenures. New South Wales, in its search for an ideal form, has
flowered into fifteen varieties. Other colonies are stumbling toward
it more or less blindly through a succession of annual statutes.
Where land is abundant the tenure will be easy. In North America
nominal quitrents were general ; the system was long since introduced
into South Africa, and it has lately been imported into New Zealand
in spite of all previous experience to the effect that such rents can
not be collected. Mr. Eggleston remarks that in the United States
the tendency was to " a simple and direct ownership of the soil by
the occupant." Since those days Henry George has come and (alas!)
gone. A craze for the nationalization of the land buzzes in the
bonnets of all who have no land. There is an equal reluctance on
the part of colonial legislatures to grant waste lands as freeholds
and on the part of purchasers to accept them on any other terms.
Hence the constant effort to devise a tenure which shall reserve the
rights of the colony and yet not oppress the tenant. One legislature
has blasphemed into the " eternal lease," which would seem to be
almost preferable to absolute ownership in a country subject to

THE EVOLUTION OF COLONIES. 293

earthquakes! But the tenure in the early days is unimportant.
With a virgin soil yielding at first seventy and then regularly forty
bushels to the acre, and high prices ruling, the farmer can stand
any tenure. Seen at market or cattle show, his equine or bovine
features and firm footing on mother earth suggest a sense of solidity
in the commonwealth to which he belongs. He gives it its character.
The legislature consists of his representatives. Laws are passed in
his interest. He controls the executive. His sons fill the civil
service. Judges sometimes come from his ranks, and lawyers easily
fall back into them. He supports the churches and fills them.
Small towns spring up in place of the pastoral villages to supply
his wants. As the period of the Golden Fleece was the colonial
age of gold, when Jason, the wool king, made a fortune, received a
baronetcy, and, returning to the mother country, founded a county
family and intermarried with the British aristocracy, so the agricul-
tural stage is the colonial age of silver, in money as in morals. It
lasted in England till well into the century, in Germany till the
other day, in France till now. It is, in the main, the stage
of contemporary colonies. What brings it to an end? The soil
gets exhausted, prices fall, and a succession of wet seasons in New
Zealand or of dry seasons in Australia or South Africa sends the
farmer into the money market. Nearly every province of almost
every colony gets mortgaged up to the hilt. The foot of the land
agent is on the neck of the farmer, who becomes his tenant or
serf — adscri'ptus glebce as much as the Old English villeins who were
the ancestors of the farmer, or the Virginia villeins who repeated in
the seventeenth century the Old English status. But tenancy does
not always arise out of bankrupt proprietorship. A capitalist may
drain an extensive marsh (like that along the valley of the Shoal-
haven River in New South Wales) and divide the rich alluvial soil
into hundreds of profitable dairy farms. More inland marshes, like
the Piako Swamp in New Zealand, have been so completely drained
as to make the soil too dry to carry wheat, and so have swamped both
capitalists and banker. Where the squatter owner keeps the land in
his own hands, he may lease an unbroken-up tract for three or five
years to a farmer who plows and" fences it, takes off crops, pays a
light rent of from five to fifteen bushels per acre, and leaves it in
grass. On one tenure or another the whole colony gradually comes
into cultivation.

The predominance of the agricultural interest is long threatened
and at length shaken by the rise of the industrial stage. It is partly
evolved from the pastoral and agricultural stages and partly inde-
pendent. Nor do these stages at once and necessarily give rise to col-
lective industry. In all young colonies where the population is

294 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

scanty and processes are simple there are no division and no asso-
ciation of labor. The account that one of the best of American
historians gives of the Northwest Territory might be accepted as a de-
scription of this primitive state, and realizes Fichte's ideal of a
geschlossener Handelstaat (closed trade state). Shut in by moun-
tains, the people raised their own flax and sometimes grew their
own wool, which they spun and wove at home. They made their
own spinning wheels and looms, as they made their own furni-
ture. They tanned their own leather and cobbled rude shoes of
it. Of Indian-corn husks they spun ropes and manufactured
horse collars and chair bottoms. Barrels and beehives were formed
of sawn hollow trees. They extracted sugar from the maple
and tea from the sassafras root. Their boats were dug-out canoes.
In colonies of later foundation this self-sufficing stage, which re-
peats an earlier period in the mother country than the time when
the colony was given off, is dropped, though there are traces of
it everywhere to be found. Sheep countries give birth to the woolen
industry. New Zealand reduplicates the woolen manufactures of
England and, owing to protective duties, has attained a deserved
success. New South Wales, with finer wools, has not succeeded, for
no other apparent reason than that she refuses to impose such duties.
For it is to be observed that it is under legislative protection — boun-
ties, bonuses, drawbacks, export and especially import duties — that
almost every colonial industry has grown up, as the industries of the
mother country grew up. Sometimes the profit in a particular under-
taking is exactly equal to the amount of the import duty, and it is
seldom greater. By taking extravagant advantage of the liberty
long refused (as leave to manufacture was long refused to the North
American colonies), but at length conceded, to impose import duties,
an Australasian colony, misled as much by its own splendid energy
as by evil counselors (Carlyle among them), built up a whole arti-
ficial system of industries which sank in ruinous collapse when the
boom had passed. Independent industries spring first from the soil.
Gold and silver mining lose their wild adventurous character, and
become regular industries, worked by companies with extensive
plants. The digging of gum in Auckland (bled from the gigantic
Kauri pine) is operated by merchants who keep the gum diggers in a
species of serfage. The discovery of coal makes native industries
possible or remunerative, but till iron has been found the system is
incomplete. All countries, and therefore all colonies, are late in
reaching this stage; the most advanced contemporary colonies have
not yet reached it. None the less have they followed England with
swifter steps, if with less momentum, into the modern age of iron —
that Brummagem epoch which has the creation of markets for its war

THE EVOLUTION OF COLONIES. 295

cry, state socialism for its gospel, Joseph of Birmingham for its
prophet, and the British Empire for its deity.

The iron age is fitly inaugurated by the most degraded relation-
ship that man can bear to man — that of slavery. Only the oldest of
modern colonies imitate the mother countries in passing through this
stage; in those of later foundation a mere shadow of it remains, or
it takes other shapes. Colonists first enslave the natives of the country
where they settle. In the South American colonies, where they went
to find gold, they would work for no other purpose; they therefore
needed the natives to till the soil ; they needed them also as carriers.
For these purposes they were used unscrupulously. They were dis-
tributed among the Spaniards under a system of repartimientos
which repeated the provisions of Greek and Roman slavery, and was
itself reduplicated three centuries later in the convict assignment
system of New South Wales. With such savage cruelty was it
worked that, according to the testimony of Columbus, six sevenths of
the population of Hispaniola died under it in a few years. The same
form of slavery, but of a very different character, prevailed in Africa
down almost to our own times. In the British colonies it was sub-
merged in 1834, from causes exterior to itself, by the humanitarian
wave that wrecked the West Indies; in the French colonies it was
abolished by the revolutionary government of 1848; in the Dutch
colonies it possibly subsists to this day. Theoretically abolished or
not, the relationship between civilized whites and savage blacks must
be everywhere a modified form of slavery; and a white colonization
of the African tropics can only take place under conditions indistin-
guishable from a limited slavery. In colder or younger colonies,
even if a more refined sentiment had permitted it, there could be no
question of enslaving the fierce red Indians, the warlike Maoris,
or the intractable Australian blacks. The Indians rendered some
services to the northern colonists. The Maoris worked for the first
immigrants into Canterbury, but as free laborers, and the phase soon
passed away as more valuable labor arrived. Blacks were in the
early years employed by the Australian settlers, but like nearly all
savages they were found incapable of continuous industry. The next
step is to import slaves. To lighten the oppression of the Mexicans,
negroes were introduced, as they had previously been into Europe.
There, and still more in the southern colonies of North America,
they were the chief pioneers. They cut down forests, cleared the
jungles, drained the swamps, and opened up the country. For the
best part of two hundred years the world's sugar, rice, cotton, to-
bacco, and indigo were grown by negro labor. The effect on the
negro himself has been to raise him one grade in the scale of being.
If, as Mr. Galton believes, he is naturally two grades below the Euro-

296 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

pean, a place in the " organization of labor " will have to be found for
him midway between the white workman and the slave. It is, indeed,
being found. As a farmer the negro has totally failed. " But he is
a good laborer under supervision. He is a success in the mines. He
has found acceptance in the iron furnaces and about the coke ovens.
He is in great demand in periods of lailroad construction," and he is
a Western pioneer. Above born and bred slaves for life there is the
status of imported slaves for a term. For years Kanakas, hired or cap-
tured from the Melanesian Islands of the Pacific, were used as slaves
by the sugar planters of Queensland, until the outcry in England
put a stop to an ill-conducted traffic. It has since been resumed under
humaner conditions, which make it as defensible as slavery can ever
be. Coolies from India are imported into Fiji and Hongkong prac-
tically as free laborers. They are also employed on board the great
liners that ply between India, China, Australia, and England, much
to the discontent of the working class and to the great satisfaction
of the well-to-do, who thus gain cheaper passages and lower freights.
The radical opposition is no more likely to prevent this form of native
labor from spreading to all suitable environments than the conserva-
tive opposition has prevented women from filling the employments
within their improved capacities. The ubiquitous Chinaman, again,
has imported himself into most colonies, and so long as he takes
a place that the white laborer refuses to occupy, he will present the
ugly problem of the coexistence of an indestructible alien race with
a civilized people whose type of civilization and his are irreconcilable.
European colonies have also known white slavery, as Greek and
Roman colonies knew it, and slavery of their own race and nation,
as European countries knew it. Its most degraded type has doubt-
less been Spanish, English, and French convictism. The Australian-
English is the most familiar and the worst. The Australian convict
was a slave for life or a long term. Like the slave, he was at the
mercy of his master, excepting that corporal punishment could
not be inflicted by the master's hands. The lash was none the less
kept going; in a single year, in New South Wales, nearly three thou-
sand floggings were administered. The Roman ergastula were
pleasure bowers compared with the convict hells of Parramatta, in
New South Wales, and Port Arthur, in Tasmania. Marcus Clarke's
terrible fiction proves to be still more terrible fact. Convicts were
herded together like pigs; kindness was rare, oppression general, and
many fine men died inch by inch. Such was the state of things even
after the introduction of the assignment system. According to that
system, convicts were assigned as agricultural laborers and shepherds
to settlers who cried out for them, as the American planters did for
slaves. Craftsmen were allotted to high officials in lieu of salary or

THE EVOLUTION OF COLONIES. 297

to influential persons who hired them to others (herein repeating Eng-
lish serfdom) or permitted them to work for themselves, receiving a
portion of their earnings (herein repeating Greek slavery). Me-
chanics were employed on public works, and hundreds of buildings
were erected by convict masons, bricklayers, and carpenters. Day
laborers were employed on roads, and hundreds of miles of solid
highway are a durable monument to the memory of the convict.
They were the true pioneers of the country, braving the dangers of
the " bush," resisting the aborigines, clearing and cultivating the
land, and developing the resources of the colonies. For themselves
they did well and ill. Many reformed, and after manumission,
which was at first special and at length general, became respectable
citizens, dealers, and traders. Some grew to be prosperous mer-
chants, wealthy squatters, editors, legislators, and all but ministers.
Their sons are judges, legislators, solicitors, Government officials,
newspaper proprietors. After lasting for sixty years the system of
transportation was at length abolished in consequence of the opposi-
tion of the working class, who objected to competition, and of the
respectable classes generally. The legislative body and the large
landowners were rather in favor of its perpetuity, and there are still
members of the old " slave-driving party " in Tasmania who regret
its discontinuance.

The bond servants, who were common in New England and at first
more numerous than slaves in the Southern States, repeated the status
of the English serfs. Their origin was various. Crime, debt, sale by
parents, voluntary surrender, and kidnapping all contributed their
quota. The period of indentured service was at first from seven to
ten years, and was ultimately reduced to a fixed term of four years.
They were exchanged and sold like any other commodity. Their
treatment seems to have been often harsh. Like the Australian con-
victs, many of them prospered. Leading families in the United States
trace their origin to bondmen. ISTot a few of the Southern overseers,
free laborers, and small farmers are believed to be descended from
them. The vagabond element in all the States, the " white trash '
of the South, and the criminal and pauper inhabitants of certain
regions in the North are also affiliated on the more degraded sections
of the class.*

The worst of modern inventions, it has been said, is the inven-
tion of the workingman. The workingman, however, has a pedigree;
he is the son of the bondman or the serf, and the grandson of the
slave, who would have been still more discreditable " inventions " if
they had not been the outgrowth of their time and place. The servile
character of the workman long survived in European countries; it

* Eggleston, op. ctt., p. 858.
vol. liv. — 22

z 9 8 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

was not till the beginning of this century that the last trades were
emancipated in England. While in North America and New South
Wales the transition is plainly traceable, all vestiges of it have disap-
peared in the younger colonies. In these, almost from the first, the
mechanic is master of the situation. The carpenter who can put up
a wooden cottage commands regular work and high wages, while the
preacher who builds him a house not made with hands is starved.
The anomaly is in perfect consistency with the biological analogy;
the brain is everywhere of late development. As the colony grows,
wages fall, and the position of professional men becomes more toler-
able, but, en revanche, the workman acquires and at length almost
monopolizes political power. The premier and cabinet ministers are
sometimes former peddlers, gold diggers, coal miners, shepherds, etc.
The legislative bodies consist largely of labor representatives. Laws
are passed in the interest of labor. Not content with a share of
political power out of all proportion to their numbers or importance,
the regimented trades, under the command of unscrupulous leaders,
deliver a pitched battle against the employers, with the object of
gaining practical possession of the agencies of production and distri-
bution. They are necessarily defeated. The value of labor and the
importance of the mechanic decline with the application of machinery
to all industrial processes. Accumulated wealth, subsidizing inven-
tions, acquires an increasing ascendency. The industrial system is in
no greater danger from the onslaughts of labor than civilized coun-
tries from the invasion of barbarians.

Only the beginnings of the commercial epoch, or age of bronze,
are to be found in colonies. In production we witness the same
supersession of individual enterprise by the limited liability company.
This is also the case in distribution, where many obsolete Old World
stages are recapitulated. We may still see the long, slow bullock
team, the wearied pack horse (the fur trade in Canada was carried on
by " brigades of pack horses "), the hawker, purveyor of news and
gossip. We easily trace the evolution of the shop: at first a ship,
then landed, with everything inside — groceries, meat, bread, fruit,
and vegetables, clothes, crockery, ironmongery, stationery, and to-
bacco; the butcher first hives off, then the baker, the grocer; in
course of time reintegration takes place, and shops are to be found in
the colonial cities which reduplicate Whiteley's in London, where
everything may again be had as in the beginning. The processes of
exchange likewise recapitulate the past. Barter is long universal,
and is still common in colonial villages. Even then a standard is
needed. In the Old English period the "currency" consisted of
cattle, named by a facetious writer " the current kine of the realm."
In Virginia and Maryland tobacco was the circulating medium for a

THE MIND'S EYE. 299

century and a half, supplemented in Maryland with hemp and flax ;
taxes were paid in tobacco, and rent in kind. In Illinois and Canada,
skins and furs, with wampum for small coin; in New England the
latter singular currency was used far into the eighteenth century.
New South Wales has the demerit of inventing the destructive
medium of rum; wages were paid in it or in wheat; meal or spirits
were taken at the doors of theaters. Store receipts for produce were
given by the Government and passed current, not without deprecia-
tion; military officers issued bills for all sums up to one hundred
pounds; private individuals, in the lack of specie, gave promissory
notes. Fixed prices were long unknown; extortioners in the early
days of all the colonies made a profit of a thousand per cent; and in
quite recent days usurious attorneys exacted interest at the rate of a
hundred per cent.

Colonies sometimes anticipate the development of the mother
country. The communistic dreams of the forties in France and
England were for a brief while realized in old Virginia, as they are at
this hour being realized in the village settlements of South Australia;
and the state socialism rendered popular by the German victories
of 1870 was perhaps more thoroughly embodied in convict New
South Wales than anywhere else outside of Peru under the Incas,
as it is now sweeping all of the Australasian colonies onward to an
unknown goal.

THE MIND'S EYE.

By JOSEPH JASTKOW.

Hamlet. — My father, — Methinks, I see my father.
Horatio. — 0, where, my lord ?
Hamlet. — In my mind's eye, Horatio.

IT is a commonplace taught from nursery to university that we
see with our eyes, hear with our ears, and feel with the fingers.
This is the truth, but not the whole truth. Indispensable as are the
sense organs in gaining an acquaintance with the world in which we
live, yet they alone do not determine how extensive or how accurate
that acquaintance shall be. There is a mind behind the eye and
the ear and the finger tips which guides them in gathering in-
formation, and gives value and order to the exercise of the senses.
This is particularly true of vision, the most intellectual of all the
senses, the one in which mere acuteness of the sense organ counts
least and the training in observation counts most. The eagle's eye
sees farther, but our eyes tell us much more of what is seen.

The eye is often compared to a photographic camera, with its

3 oo POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

eyelid cap, its iris shutter, its lens, and its sensitive plate — the retina ;
when properly adjusted for distance and light, the image is formed
on the retina as on the glass plate, and the picture is taken. So far
the comparison is helpful; but while the camera takes a picture
whenever and wherever the plate happens to be exposed, the com-
plete act of seeing requires some co-operation on the part of the mind.
The retina may be exposed a thousand times and take but few pic-
tures; or perhaps it is better to say that the pictures may be taken,
but remain undeveloped and evanescent. The pictures that are de-
veloped are stacked up, like the negatives in the photographer's shop,
in the pigeonholes of our mental storerooms — some faded and
blurred, some poorly arranged or mislaid, some often referred to
and fresh prints made therefrom, and some quite neglected.

In order to see, it is at once necessary that the retina be suitably
exposed toward the object to be seen, and that the mind be favorably
disposed to the assimilation of the impression. True seeing, observ-
ing, is a double process, partly objective or outward — the thing seen
and the retina — and partly subjective or inward — the picture mys-
teriously transferred to the mind's representative, the brain, and there
received and affiliated with other images. Illustrations of such see-
ing " with the mind's eye " are not far to seek. Wherever the
beauties and conformations of natural scenery invite the eye of man
does he discover familiar forms and faces (Fig. 1); the forces of
Nature have rough-hewn the rocks, but the human eye detects and
often creates the resemblances. The stranger to whom such curiosi-
ties of form are first pointed out often finds it difficult to discover
the resemblance, but once seen the face or form obtrudes itself in
every view and seems the most conspicuous feature in the outlook.
The flickering fire furnishes a fine background for the activity of the
mind's eye, and against this it projects the forms and fancies which
the leaping flames and the burning embers from time to time suggest.
Not all see these fire-pictures readily, for our mental eyes differ more
from one another than the physical ones, and perhaps no two per-
sons see the same picture in quite the same way. It is not quite true,
however, as many have held, that in waking hours we all have a
world in common, but in dreams each has a world of his own, for
our waking worlds are made different by the differences in what
engages our interest and our attention. It is true that our eyes when
open are opened very largely to the same views, but by no one ob-
server are all these views, though visible, really seen.

This characteristic of human vision often serves as a source of
amusement. The puzzle picture with its tantalizing face, or animal,
or what not, hidden in the trees, or fantastically constructed out of
heterogeneous elements that make up the composition, is to many

THE MIND'S EYE.

301

quite irresistible. We turn it about in all directions, wondering
where the hidden form can be, scanning every detail of the picture,
until suddenly a chance glimpse reveals it, plainly staring us in the

Fig. 1.*— The man's face in the rocks is quite distinct, and is usually readily found when it is
known that there is a face somewhere. ( For this view from the Dalles of the St. Croix,
Minn., I am indebted to the courtesy of Mr. W. H. Dudley, of Madison, Wis.)

face. When several persons are engaged in this occupation, it is
amusing to observe how blind each is to what the others see; their
physical eyes see alike, but their mental eyes reflect their own in-
dividualities.

* In order to obtain the effects described in the various illustrations it is necessary in
several cases to regard the figures for a considerable time and with close attention. The
reader is requested not to give up in case the first attempt to secure the effect is not suc-
cessful, but to continue the effort for a reasonable period. Individuals differ considerably
in the readiness with which they obtain such effects ; in some cases, such devices as holding
the diagrams inverted or at an angle or viewing them with the eyes half closed are helpful.

3 02

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Thousands upon thousands of persons handle our silver dollar,
but few happen to observe the lion's head which lies concealed in the
representation of the familiar head of Liberty; frequently even a care-
ful examination fails to detect this hidden emblem of British rule;
but, as before, when once found, it is quite obvious (Fig. 2). For simi-
lar reasons it is a great aid in looking for an object to know what to
look for; to be readily found, the object, though lost to sight, should
be to memory clear. Searching is a mental process similar to the
matching of a piece of fabric in texture or color, when one has for-
gotten the sample and must rely upon the remembrance of its appear-
ance. If the recollection is clear and distinct, recognition takes place
when the judgment decides that what the physical eye sees corresponds
to the image in the mind's eye; with an indistinct mental image the

Fig. 2. — In order to see the lion's head, hold the dollar exactly inverted and the head will be
discovered lacing the left, as above outlined. It is clearer on the dollar itself than in this
reproduction.

recognition becomes doubtful or faulty. The novice in the use of the
microscope experiences considerable difficulty in observing the ap-
pearance which his instructor sees and describes, and this because his
conception of the object to be seen is lacking in precision. Hence
his training in the use of the microscope is distinctly aided by con-
sulting the illustrations in the text-book, for thev enable his mental
eye to realize the pictures which it should entertain. He may be
altogether too much influenced by the pictures thus suggested to his
mental vision, and draw what is really not under his microscope at
all; much as the young arithmetician will manage to obtain the
answer which the book requires even at the cost of a resort to very
unmathematical processes. For training in correct and accurate
vision it is necessary to acquire an alert mental eye that observes all
that is objectively visible, but does not permit the subjective to add
to or modify what is really present.

THE MIND'S EYE.

3°3

The importance of the mind's eye in ordinary vision is also well
illustrated in cases in which we see or seem to see what is not really

r

D

Fig. 3. — Observe the appearance of these letters at a distance of ci^ht to twelve feet. An in-
teresting method of testing the activity of the mind's eye with these letters is described
in the text.

present, but what for one cause or another it is natural to suppose is
present. A very familiar instance of this process is the constant over-
looking of misprints — false letters, transposed letters, and missing
letters — unless these happen to be particularly striking. We see only

Fig. 3a.

Fig. 36.

the general physiognomy of the word and the detailed features are
supplied from within; in this case it is the expected that happens.
Reading is done largely by the mental eye; and entire words, obvi-
ously suggested by the context, are sometimes read in, when they
have been accidentally omitted. This is more apt to occur with the

Fig. 4. — For description, see text.

irregular characters used in manuscript than in the more distinct
forms of the printed alphabet, and is particularly frequent in reading
over what one has himself written. In reading proof, however, we
are eager to detect misprints, and this change in attitude helps to

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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

make them visible. It is difficult to illustrate this process inten-
tionally, because the knowledge that one's powers of observation are
about to be tested places one on one's guard, and thus suppresses the
natural activity of the mind's eye and draws unusual attention to
objective details. Let the reader at this point hold the page at some
distance off — say, eight or twelve feet — and draw an exact reproduc-
tion of the letters shown in Fig. 3. Let him not read further until
this has been done, and perhaps he may find that he has introduced
strokes which were not present in the original. If this is not the case,
let him try the test upon those who are ignorant of its nature, and he
will find that most persons will supply light lines to complete the con-
tours of the letters which in the original are suggested but not really
present; the original outline, Fig. da, becomes something like Fig. 3fr,

1 1

M

M

> 1

Fig. 5. — The black and white por-
tions of this design are precisely
alike, but the effect of looking at
the figure as a pattern in black
upon a white background, or as a
pattern in white upon a black
background, is quite different, al-
though the difference is not easily
described.

Fig. 6. — When this figure is viewed as a black pattern
on a white background, the four main vertical lines
seem far from parallel ; when it is viewed as a white
pattern on a black background this illusion disap-
pears (or nearly so), and the black lines as well as
the white ones seem parallel.

and so on for the rest of the letters. The physical eye sees the former,
but the mental eve sees the latter.

I tried this experiment with a class of over thirty university
students of Psychology, and, although they were disposed to be quite
critical and suspected some kind of an illusion, only three or four
drew the letters correctly; all the rest filled in the imaginary light
contours; some even drew them as heavily as the real strokes. I fol-
lowed this by an experiment of a similar character. I placed upon

THE MIND'S EYE. 305

a table a figure (Fig. 4) made of light cardboard, fastened to blocks
of wood at the base so that the pieces would easily stand upright.
The middle piece, which is rectangular and high, was placed a little
in front of the rest of the figure. The students were asked to de-

Fig. 7.— This is a highly enlarged reproduction taken from a half-tone process print of Lord
Kelvin. It appeared in the Photographic Times.

scribe precisely what they saw, and with one exception they all de-
scribed, in different words, a semicircular piece of cardboard with
a rectangular piece in front of it. In reality there was no half-circle
of cardboard, but only parts of two quarter-circles. The students,
of course, were well aware that their physical eyes could not see what
was behind the middle cardboard, but they inferred that the two
side pieces were parts of one continuous semicircle. This they saw,
so far as they saw it at all, with their mind's eye.

There is a further interesting class of illustrations in which a
single outward impression changes its character according as it is
viewed as representing one thing or another. In a general way we
see the same thing all the time, and the image on the retina does
not change. But as we shift the attention from one portion of the
view to another, or as we view it with a different mental conception
of what the figure represents, it assumes a different aspect, and to our
mental eye becomes quite a different thing. A slight but interesting
change takes place if we view Fig. 5 first with the conception that the
black is the pattern to be seen and the white the background, and
again try to see the white as the pattern against a black background.
I give a further illustration of such a change in Fig. 6. In our first

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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

and natural view of this we focus the attention upon the black lines
and observe the familiar illusion, that the four vertical lines seem far
from parallel. That they are parallel can be verified by measure-
ment, or by covering up all of the diagram except the four main

Fig. 8. — This drawing may be viewed as
the representation of a book standing
on its half-opened covers as seen from
the back of the book ; or as the inside
view of an open book showing the pages.

Fig. 10. — The smaller square may be re-
garded as either the nearer face of a
projecting figure or as the more distant
face of a hollow figure.

Fig. 9. — When th"s figure is
viewed as an arrow, the up-
per or feathered end seems
flat ; when the rest of the
arrow is covered, the feath-
ered end may be made to
project or recede like the
book cover in Fig. 8.

lines. But if the white part of the diagram is conceived as the de-
sign against a black background, then the design is no longer the
same, and with this change the illusion disappears, and the four
lines seem parallel, as they really are. It may require a little effort
to bring about this change, but it is very marked when once realized.
A curious optical effect which in part illustrates the change in
appearance under different aspects is reproduced in Fig. 7. In this
case the enchantment of distance is necessary to produce the trans-
formation. Viewed at the usual reading distance, we see nothing

THE MIND'S EYE.

3°7

but an irregular and meaningless assemblage of black and white
blotches. At a distance of fifteen to eighteen feet, however, a man's
head appears quite clearly. Also observe that after the head has
once been realized it becomes possible to obtain suggestions of it at
nearer distances.

A much larger class of ambiguous diagrams consists of those
which represent by simple outlines familiar geometrical forms or
objects. We cultivate such a use of our eyes, as indeed of all our
faculties, as will on the whole lead to the most profitable results. As
a rule, the particular impression is not so important as what it repre-
sents. Sense impressions are simply the symbols or signs of things

Fig. 12. — In this scroll the left half may at
first seem concave and the right convex,
it then seems to roll or advance like a
wave, and the left seems convex and the
right concave, as though the trough of
the wave had become the crest, and vice
versa.

Fig. 11. — This represents an ordinary table-
glass, the bottom of the glass and the en-
tire rear side, except the upper portion,
being seen through the transparent nearer
side, and the rear apparently projecting
above the front. But it fluctuates in ap-
pearance between this and a view of the
glass in which the bottom is seen directly,
partly from underneath, the whole of the
rear side is seen through the transparent
front, and the front projects above the
back.

or ideas, and the thing or the idea is more important than the sign.
Accordingly, we are accustomed to interpret lines, whenever we can,
as the representations of objects. We are well aware that the can-
vas or the etching or the photograph before us is a flat surface in
two dimensions, but we see the picture as the representation of solid
objects in three dimensions. This is the illusion of pictorial art. So
strong is this tendency to view lines as the symbols of things that if
there is the slightest chance of so viewing them, we invariably do so;
for we have a great deal of experience with things that present their
contours as lines, and very little with mere lines or surfaces. If we
view outlines only, without shading or perspective or anything to
definitely suggest what is foreground and what background, it be-
comes possible for the mind to supply these details and see fore-
ground as background, and vice versa.

A good example to begin with is Fig. 8. These outlines will

3 o8

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

probably suggest at first view a book, or better a book cover, seen
with its back toward you and its sides sloping away from you; but

/

/

7V.

Fisr. 13.

Fig. 13a.

Fig. \Zb.

Figs. 13, 13a, and 13*. — The two methods of viewing Fig. 13 arc described in the text. Figs.
13a and 134 are added to make clearer the two methods of viewing Fig. 13. The heavier
lines seem to represent the nearer surface. Fig. 13a more naturally suggests the nearer
sui*face of the box in a position downward and to the left, and Fig. \Zb makes the nearer
side seem to he upward and to the right. But in spite of the heavier outlines of the one
surface, it may be made to shift positions from foreground to background, although not so
readily as in Fig. 13.

it may also be viewed as a book opened out toward you and present-
ing to you an inside view of its contents. Should the change not
come readily, it may be facilitated by thinking persistently of the
appearance of an open book in this position. The upper portion of
Fig. 9 is practically the same as Fig. 8, and if the rest of the figure
be covered up, it will change as did the book cover; when, however,
the whole figure is viewed as an arrow, a new conception enters, and
the apparently solid book cover becomes the flat feathered part of the

H

H

H

H

H

H

H

H

Fig. 14. — Each member of this frieze represents a relief ornament, applied upon the back-
ground, which in cross -section would be an isosceles triangle with a huge obtuse angle,
or a space of similar shape hollowed out of the solid wood or stone. In running the eye
along the pattern, it is interesting to observe how variously the patterns fluctuate from
one of these aspects to the other.

arrow. Look at the next figure (Fig. 10), which represents in out-
line a truncated pyramid with a square base. Is the smaller square
nearer to you, and are the sides of the pyramid sloping away from
you toward the larger square in the rear? Or are you looking into
the hollow of a truncated pyramid with the smaller square in the
background? Or is it now one and now the other, according as you
decide to see it? Here (Fig. 13) is a skeleton box which you may
conceive as made of wires outlining the sides. Now the front, or

THE MIND'S EYE.

3°9

side nearest to me, seems directed downward and to the left; again,
it has shifted its position and is no longer the front, and the side
which appears to be the front seems directed upward and to the right.
The presence of the diagonal line makes the change more striking:
in one position it runs from the left-hand rear upper corner to the
right-hand front lower corner; while in the other it connects the left-
hand front upper corner with the right-hand rear lower corner.

Fig. 15 will probably seem at first glimpse to be the view of a
flight of steps which one is about to ascend from right to left. Im-

Fig. 15a.

Fig. 155.

Fig. 15.

Figs. 15, 15a, and 156. — The two views of Fig. 15 described in the text are brought out more
clearly in Figs. 15a and 155. The shaded portion tends to be regarded as the nearer face.
Fig. 15a is more apt to suggest the steps seen as we ascend them. Fig. 155 seems to rep-
resent the hollowed-out structure underneath the steps. But even with the shading the

dual interpretation is possible, although less obvious.

agine it, however, to be a view of the under side of a series of steps;
the view representing the structure of overhanging solid masonwork
seen from underneath. At first it may be difficult to see it thus, be-
cause the view of steps which we are about to mount is a more
natural and frequent experience than the other; but by staring at it
with the intention of seeing it differently the transition will come,
and often quite unexpectedly.

The blocks in Fig. 16 are subject to a marked fluctuation. Now

3 io

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

the black surfaces represent the bottoms of the blocks, all pointing-
downward and to the left, and now the black surfaces have changed
and have become the tops pointing upward and to the right. For
some the changes come at will; for others they seem to come unex-
pectedly, but all are aided by anticipating mentally the nature of the
transformation. The effect here is quite striking, the blocks seeming
almost animated and moving through space. In Fig. 17 a similar ar-
rangement serves to create an illusion as to the real number of blocks
present. If viewed in one way — the black surface forming the tops
of the blocks — there seem to be six arranged as in Fig. 18; but

Fig. 16.— This interesting figure (which is reproduced with modifications from Scripture— The
New Psychology) is subject in a striking way to interchanges between foreground and
background. Most persons find it difficult to maintain for any considerable time either
aspect of the blocks (these aspects are described in the text) ; some can change them at
will, others must accept the changes as they happen to come.

when the transformation has taken place and the black surfaces
have become the overhanging bottoms of the boxes, there are seven,
arranged as in Fig. 19. Somewhat different, but still belonging
to the group of ambiguous figures, is the ingenious conceit of the
duck-rabbit shown in Fig. 20. When it is a rabbit, the face looks to
the right and a pair of ears are conspicuous behind; when it is a
duck, the face looks to the left and the ears have been changed into
the bill. Most observers find it difficult to hold either interpretation
steadily, the fluctuations being frequent, and coming as a surprise.
All these diagrams serve to illustrate the principle that when the
objective features are ambiguous we see one thing or another accord-
ing to the impression that is in the mind's eye; what the objective
factors lack in definiteness the subjective ones supply, while familiar-

THE MIND'S EYE.

3 11

ity, prepossession, as well as other circumstances influence the result.
These illustrations show conclusively that seeing is not wholly an
objective matter depending upon what there is to be seen, but is
very considerably a subjective matter depending upon the eye that
sees. To the same observer a given arrangement of lines now ap-
pears as the representation of one object and now of another; and

Fig. 17a.

Fig. 176.

Fig. 17.

Figs. 17, 17a, and 176. — How many blocks are there in this pile? Six or seven ? Note the
change in arrangement of the blocks as they change in number from six to seven. This
change is illustrated in the text. Figs. 17a and 17b show the two phases of a group of ai.y
three of the blocks. The arrangement of a pyramid of six blocks seems the more stable
and is usually first suggested ; but hold the page inverted, and you will probably see the
alternate arrangement (with, however, the black surfaces still forming the tops). And
once knowing what to look for, you will very likely be able to see either arrangement,
whether the diagram be held inverted or not. This method of viewing the figures upside
down and in other positions is also suggested to bring out the changes indicated in Figs.
13, 13a, 136, and in Figs. 15, 15a, 156.

from the same objective experience, especially in instances that de-
mand a somewhat complicated exercise of the senses, different ob-
servers derive very different impressions.

ISTot only when the sense-impressions are ambiguous or defective,
but when they are vague — when the light is dim or the forms obscure

312

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

— does the mind's eye eke out the imperfections of physical vision.
The vague conformations of drapery and make-up that are identi-
fied and recognized in spiritualistic seances illustrate extreme in-

O
OO

OOO

OO

OO

Fig. 18.

Fig. 19.

stances of this process. The whitewashed tree or post that momen-
tarily startles us in a dark country lane takes on the guise that ex-
pectancy gives it. The mental predisposition here becomes the
dominant factor, and the timid see as ghosts what their more sturdy
companions recognize as whitewashed posts. Such experiences we
ascribe to the action of suggestion and the imagination — the cloud
" that's almost in shape like a camel," or " like a weasel," or " like a
whale." But throughout our visual experiences there runs thi^

Fig. 20. — Do you see a duck or a rabbit, or either? (From Harper's Weekly, originally in

Kliegende Blatter.)

double strain, now mainly outward and now mainly inward, from the
simplest excitements of the retina up to the realms where fancy
soars freed from the confines of sense, and the objective finds its
occupation gone.

NATURE STUDY. 313

NATURE STUDY IN THE PHILADELPHIA NORMAL

SCHOOL.

By L. L. W. WILSON, Ph. D.

~TTT~HEN it was first proposed to me to write for the Popular Sci-
V V ence Monthly a brief account of the biological laboratories in
the Philadelphia Normal School, and of the Nature work carried on
under my direction in the School of Observation and Practice, I felt
that I could not do justice either to the place or the work; for, in
my judgment, the equipment of the laboratories and the work done
in connection with them are finer than anything else of the kind
either in this country or abroad — a statement which it seemed to me
that I could not make with becoming modesty. But, after all, it is
not great Babylon that I have built, but a Babylon builded for me,
and to fail to express my sense of its worth is to fail to do justice to
Dr. "W. P. Wilson, formerly of the University of Pennsylvania, to
whom their inception was due; to Mr. Simon Gratz, president of the
Board of Education, who from the beginning appreciated their value,
and without whose aid they never would have taken visible form; to
the principals of the two schools, and, above all, to my five assistants,
whose knowledge, zeal, and hard work have contributed more than
anything else to the rapid building up of the work.

The Laboratories and their Equipment. — The rooms occupied
by the botanical and zoological departments of the normal school
measure each seventy by twenty feet. A small workroom for the
teachers cuts off about ten feet of this length from each room. In the
middle of the remaining space stands a demonstration table fur-
nished with hot and cold water. Each laboratory is lighted from the
side by ten windows. From them extend the tables for the students.
These give plenty of drawer space and closets for dissecting and
compound microscopes. Those in the zoological room are also pro-
vided with sinks. Each student is furnished with the two micro-
scopes, stage and eyepiece micrometers, a drawing camera, a set of
dissecting instruments, glassware, note-books, text-books, and general
literature.

The walls opposite the windows are in both rooms lined with
cases, in which there is a fine synoptic series.

In the botanical laboratory this systematic collection begins with
models of bacteria and ends with trees. In other cases, placed in the
adjoining corridor, are representatives, either in alcohol or by means
of models, of most of the orders of flowering plants, as well as a series
illustrating the history of the theory of cross-fertilization, and the
various devices by which it is accomplished; another, showing the

VOL. L1V. — 23

314 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

different methods of distribution of seeds and fruits; another, of
parasitic plants; and still another showing the various devices by
means of which plants catch animals.

As an example of the graphic and thorough way in which these
illustrations are worked out, the pines may be cited. There are fos-
sils; fine specimens of pistillate and staminate flowers in alcohol;
cones; a drawing of the pollen; large models of the flowers; models
of the seeds, showing the embryo and the various stages of germina-
tion; cross and longitudinal sections of the wood; drawings showing
its microscopic structure; pictures of adult trees; and samples illus-
trating their economic importance. For the last, the long-leaved
pine of the South is used, and samples are exhibited of the tur-
pentine, crude and refined; tar and the oil of tar; resin; the leaves;
the same boiled in potash; the same hatcheled into wool; yarn, bag-
ging and rope made from the wool; and its timber split, sawn, and
dressed.

The series illustrating the fertilization of flowers begins with a
large drawing, adapted by one of the students from Gibson, showing
the gradual evolution of the belief in cross-fertilization from 1682,
when ISTehemiah Grew first declared that seed would not set unless
pollen reached the stigma, down to Darwin, who first demonstrated
the advantages of cross-fertilization and showed many of the de-
vices of plants by which this is accomplished. The special devices
are then illustrated with models and large drawings. First comes the
dimorphic primrose; then follows trimorphic Ly thrum, to the beau-
tiful model of which is appended a copy of the letter in which Dar-
win wrote to Gray of his discovery:

" But I am almost stark, staring mad over Lythrum. ... I
should rather like seed of Mitchella. But, oh, Lythrum!

" Your utterly mad friend,

"C. Darwin."

Models of the cucumber, showing the process of its formation,
and the unisexual flowers complete this series. Supplementing this
are models and drawings of a large number of flowers, illustrating
special devices by which cross-fertilization is secured, such as the
larkspur, butter and eggs, orchids, iris, salvia, several composites, the
milkweed, and, most interesting of all, the Dutchman's pipe. This
is a flower that entices flies into its curved trumpet and keeps them
there until they become covered with the ripe pollen. Then the
hairs wither, the tube changes its position, the fly is permitted to
leave, carrying the pollen thus acquired to another flower with the
same result.

NATURE STUDY.

315

Pictures and small busts of many naturalists adorn both of the
rooms. Of these the most notable is an artist proof of Mercier's
beautiful etching of Darwin. Every available inch of wall space
is thus occupied, or else, in the botanical laboratory, has on it
mounted fungi, lichens, seaweeds, leaf cards, pictures of trees,
grasses, and other botanical objects.

The windows are beautiful with hanging plants from side
brackets meeting the wealth of green on the sill. Here are found
in one window ferns, in another the century plant; in others still,
specimens of economic plants — cinnamon, olive, banana, camphor.
On the tables are magnificent specimens of palms, cycads, dracsenas,
and aspidistras, and numerous aquaria filled with various water
plants. Most of these plants are four years old, and all of them are
much handsomer than when they first became the property of the
laboratory. How much intelligent and patient care this means only
those who have attempted to raise plants in city houses can know.

The zoological laboratory is quite as beautiful as the botanical,
for it, too, has its plants and pictures. It is perhaps more interesting
because of its living elements. Think of a schoolroom in which are
represented alive types of animals as various as these: amoeba, vor-
ticella, hydra, worms, muscles, snails and slugs of various kinds,
crayfish, various insects, including a hive of Italian bees, goldfish,
minnows, dace, catfish, sunfish, eels, tadpoles, frogs, newts, salaman-
ders, snakes, alligators, turtles, pigeons, canaries, mice, guinea-pigs,
rabbits, squirrels, and a monkey! Imagine these living animals sup-
plemented by models of their related antediluvian forms, or fossils,
by carefully labeled dissections, by preparations and pictures illus-
trating their development and mode of life; imagine in addition to
this books, pamphlets, magazines, and teachers further to put you in
touch with this wonderful world about us, and you will then have
some idea of the environment in which it is the great privilege of our
students to live for five hours each week.

In addition to these laboratories there is a lecture room furnished
with an electric lantern. Here each week is given a lecture on general
topics, such as evolution and its problems, connected with the work
of the laboratories.

The Course of Study pursued by the Normal. Students. —
Botany: In general, the plants and the phenomena of the chang-
ing seasons are studied as they occur in Nature. In the fall there
are lessons on the composites and other autumn flowers, on fruits,
on the ferns, mosses, fungi, and other cryptogams. In the winter
months the students grow various seeds at home, carefully drawing
and studying every stage in their development. Meanwhile, in the
laboratory, they examine microscopically and macroscopically the

3 i6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

seeds themselves and the various food supplies stored within. By
experimentation they get general ideas of plant physiology, begin-
ning with the absorption of water by seeds, the change of the food
supply to soluble sugar, the method of growth, the functions, the
histology, and the modifications of stem, root, and leaves. In the
spring they study the buds and trees, particularly the conifers, and
the different orders of flowering plants.

The particular merit of the work is that it is so planned that each
laboratory lesson compels the students to reason. Having once thus
obtained their information, they are required to drill themselves
out of school hours until the facts become an integral part of their
knowledge.

For the study of fruits, for example, they are given large
trays, each divided into sixteen compartments, plainly labeled with
the name of the seed or fruit within. Then, by means of questions,
the students are made to read for themselves the story which each
fruit has to tell, to compare it with the others, and to deduce from
this comparison certain general laws.

After sufficient laboratory practice of this kind they are re-
quired to read parts of Lubbock's Flower, Fruit, and Leaves, Kerner's
Natural History of Plants, "Wallace's Tropical Nature, and Darwin-
ism, etc.

Finally, they are each given a type-written summary of the work,
and after a week's notice are required to pass a written examina-
tion.

Zoology: The course begins in the fall with a rather thorough
study of the insects, partly because they are then so abundant, and
partly because a knowledge of them is particularly useful to the grade
teacher in the elementary schools.

The locust is studied in detail. Tumblers and aquaria are utilized
as vivaria, so that there is abundant opportunity for the individual
study of living specimens. Freshly killed material is used for dis-
section, so that students have no difficulty in making out the internal
anatomy, which is further elucidated with large, home-made charts,
each of which shows a single system, and serves for a text to teach
them the functions of the various organs as worked out by modern
physiologists.

They then study, always with abundant material, the other in-
sects belonging to the same group. They are given two such insects,
a bug, and two beetles, and required to classify them, giving reasons
for so doing. While this work is going on they have visited the bee-
hive in small groups, sometimes seeing the queen and the drone, and
always having the opportunity to see the workers pursuing their vari-
ous occupations, and the eggs, larvse, and pupce in their different

NATURE STUDY. 317

states of development. Beautiful models of the bees and of the comb,
together with dry and alcoholic material, illustrate further this meta-
morphosis, by contrast making clearer the exactly opposite meta-
morphosis of the locust.

At least one member of each of the other orders of insects is
compared with these two type forms, and, although only important
points are considered at all, yet from one to two hours of laboratory
work are devoted to each specimen. This leisurely method of work
is pursued to give the students the opportunity, at least, to think for
themselves. When the subject is finished they are then given a
searching test. This is never directly on their required reading, but
planned to show to them and to their teachers whether they have
really assimilated what they have seen and studied.

After this the myriapods, the earthworm, and peripatus are
studied, because of their resemblance to the probable ancestors of
insects. In the meantime they have had a dozen or more fully illus-
trated lectures on evolution, so that at the close of this series of les-
sons they are expected to have gained a knowledge of the methods of
studying insects, whether living or otherwise, a working hypothesis
for the interpretation of facts so obtained, and a knowledge of one
order, which will serve admirably as a basis for comparison in much
of their future work.

They then take up, more briefly, the relatives of the insects, the
spiders and crustaceans, following these with the higher inverte-
brates, reaching the fish in April. This, for obvious reasons, is their
last dissection. But with living material, and the beautiful prepara-
tions and stuffed specimens with which the laboratory is filled, they
get a very general idea of the reptiles, birds, and mammals. This
work is of necessity largely done by the students out of school hours.
For example, on a stand on one of the tables are placed the various
birds in season, with accompanying nests containing the proper quota
of eggs. Books and pamphlets relating to the subject are placed
near. Each student is given a syllabus which will enable her to
study these birds intelligently indoors and out, if she wishes to
do so.

In the spring are taken up the orders of animals below the insect,
and for the last lesson a general survey of all the types studied gives
them the relationships of each to the other.

The Course of Study pursued in the School of Practice. — In
addition to the plants and animals about them, the children study
the weather, keeping a daily record of their observations, and sum-
marizing their results at the end of the month. In connection with
the weather and plants they study somewhat carefully the soil and,
in this connection, the common rocks and minerals of Philadelphia —

3i8 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

gneiss, mica schist, granite, sandstone, limestones, quartz, mica, and
feldspar.

As in the laboratories, so here the effort is made to teach
the children to reason, to read the story told by the individual plant,
or animal, or stone, or wind, or cloud. A special effort is made to
teach them to interpret everyday Nature as it lies around them. For
this reason frequent short excursions into the city streets are made.
Those who smile and think that there is not much of Nature to be
found in a city street are those who have never looked for it.
Enough material for study has been gathered in these excursions to
make them a feature of this work, even more than the longer ones
which they take twice a year into the country.

Last year I made not less than eighty such short excursions, each
time with classes of about thirty-five. They were children of from
seven to fourteen years of age. Without their hats, taking with
them note-books, pencils, and knives, they passed with me to the
street. The passers-by stopped to gaze at us, some with expressions
of amusement, others of astonishment; approval sometimes, quite
frequently the reverse. But I never once saw on the part of the
children a consciousness of the mild sensation that they were creating.
They went for a definite purpose, which was always accomplished.

The children of the first and second years study nearly the same
objects. Those of the third and fourth years review this general
work, studying more thoroughly some one type. When they enter
the fifth year, they have considerable causal knowledge of the fa-
miliar plants and animals, of the stones, and of the weather. But,
what is more precious to them, they are sufficiently trained to be
able to look at new objects with a truly " seeing eye."

The course of study now requires general ideas of physiology,
and, in consequences, the greater portion of their time for science is
devoted to this subject. I am glad to be able to say, however, that
it is not " School Physiology " which they study, but the guinea-pig
and The Wandering Jew !

In other words, I let them find out for themselves how and what
the guinea-pig eats; how and what he expires and inspires; how and
why he moves. Along with this they study also plant respiration,
transpiration, assimilation, and reproduction, comparing these pro-
cesses with those of animals, including themselves.

The children's interest is aroused and their observation stimulated
t>y the constant presence in the room with them of a mother guinea-
pig and her child. Nevertheless, I have not hesitated to call in out-
side materials to help them to understand the work. A series of
lessons on the lime carbonates, therefore, preceded the lessons on
respiration; an elephant's tooth, which I happened to have, helped

PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION. 319

to explain the guinea-pig's molars; and a microscope and a frog's
leg made real to them the circulation of the blood.

In spite of the time required for the physiology, the fifth-year
children have about thirty lessons on minerals; the sixth-year, the
same number on plants; and the seventh-year, on animals; and it
would be difficult to decide which of these subjects rouses their great-
est enthusiasm.

PKINCIPLES OF TAXATION.*

By the Late Hon. DAVID A. WELLS.

XX. THE LAW OF THE DIFFUSION OF TAXES.

PART I.

NO attempt ought to be made to construct or formulate an
economically correct, equitable, and efficient system of taxa-
tion which does not give full consideration to the method or extent to
which taxes diffuse themselves after their first incidence. On this
subject there is a great difference of opinion, which has occasioned,
for more than a century, a vast and never-ending discussion on the
part of economic writers. All of this, however, has resulted in no
generally accepted practical conclusions; has been truthfully charac-
terized by a leading French economist (M. Parieu) as marked in no
small part by the " simplicity of ignorance," and from a somewhat
complete review (recently published f) of the conflicting theories
advanced by participants one rises with a feeling of weariness and
disgust.

The majority of economists, legislators, and the public generally
incline to the opinion that taxes mainly rest where they are laid, and
are not shifted or diffused to an extent that requires any recognition

* It is fortunate that Mr. Wells had practically completed his essays on taxation
before death put an end to his activity. The manuscript of two chapters was found among
his papers — one on the Best Methods of Taxation, and the other on the Law of the Diffu-
sion of Taxes, begun in this number. The first manuscript has some pages missing, and
it has been thought best to postpone its publication, in the hope that the missing pages
may be found. It is evident that the last touches were yet to be put upon the chapter on
the diffusion of taxes — a chapter that was to sum up the theory of taxation developed by
the writer. So much of that summary is contained in it as to make the meaning of Mr.
Wells unmistakable, and its publication is further amply justified by the number of practical
illustrations and happy application of theory to fact, in the selection and explanation of
which the author excelled. The entire series, which has been running in the Popular Sci-
ence Monthly for more than three years, will now be collected in a volume — a worthy
memorial to one whose powers of popular exposition of abstract problems placed him
among the first of economists in the United States.

f On the Shifting and Incidence of Taxation, by Prof. Edwin R. Seligman, 1892.

3ZO POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

in the enactment of statutes for their assessment. Thus, a tax com-
mission of Massachusetts, as the result of their investigations, arrived
at the conclusion that " the tendency of taxes is that they must be
paid by the actual persons on whom they are levied." But a little
thought must, however, make clear that unless the advancement of
taxes and their final and actual payment are one and the same thing,
the Massachusetts statement is simply an evasion of the main question
at issue, and that its authors had no intelligent conception of it.
A better proposition, and one that may even be regarded as an
economic axiom, is that, regarding taxation as a synonym for a force,
as it really is, it follows the natural and invariable law of all forces,
and distributes itself in the line of least resistance. It is also valuable
as indicating the line of inquiry most likely to lead to exact and prac-
tical conclusions. But beyond this it lacks value, inasmuch as it
fails to embody any suggestions as to the best method of making the
involved principle a basis for any general system for correct taxation;
inasmuch as " the line of least resistance " is not a positive factor,
and may be and often is so arranged as to make levies on the part of
the State under the name of taxation subservient to private rather
than public interests. Under such circumstances the question natu-
rally arises, What is the best method for determining, at least, the
approximative truth in respect to this vexed subject? A manifestly
correct answer would be: first, to avoid at the outset all theoretic
assumptions as a basis for reasoning; second, to obtain and marshal
all the facts and conditions incident to the inquiry or deducible from
experience; third, recognize the interdependence of all such facts
and conclusions; fourth, be practical in the highest degree in accept-
ing things as they are, and dealing with them as they are found; and
on such a basis attention is next asked to the following line of in-
vestigations.

It is essential at the outset to correct reasoning that the distinc-
tion between taxation and spoliation be kept clearly in view. That
only is entitled to be called a tax law which levies uniformly upon
all the subjects of taxation; which does not of itself exempt any part
of the property of the same class which is selected to bear the primary
burden of taxation, or by its imperfections to any extent permits such
exemptions. All levies or assessments made by the State on the
persons, property, or business of its citizens that do not conform to
such conditions are spoliations, concerning which nothing but irregu-
larity can be predicated; nothing positive concerning their diffusion
can be asserted; and the most complete collection of experiences in
respect to them can not be properly dignified as " a science." And
it may be properly claimed that from a nonrecognition or lack of
appreciation of the broad distinction between taxation and spoliation,

PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION. 321

the disagreement among economists respecting the diffusion of taxes
has mainly originated.

With this premise, let us next consider what facts and experi-
ences are pertinent to this subject, and available to assist in reach-
ing sound conclusions; proceeding very carefully and cautiously in
so doing, inasmuch as territory is to be entered upon that has not
been generally or thoroughly explored.

The facts and experiences of first importance in such inquiry are
that the examination of the tax rolls in any State, city, or muni-
cipality of the United States will show that surprisingly small num-
bers of persons primarily pay or advance any kind of taxes. It is not
probable that more than one tenth of the adult population or about
one twentieth of the entire population of the United States ever
come in contact officially with a tax assessor or tax collector. It is
also estimated that less than two per cent of the total population of
the United States advance the entire customs and internal revenue of
the Federal Government.

In the investigations made in 1871, by a commission created by
the Legislature of the State of New York to revise its laws relative to
the assessment and collection of taxes, it was found that in the city of
New York, out of a population of over one million in the above year,
only 8,920 names, or less than one per cent of this great multitude
of people, had " any household furniture, money, goods, chattels,
debts due from solvent debtors, whether on account of contract, note,
bond, or mortgage, or any public stocks, or stocks in moneyed cor-
porations, or in general any personal property of which the assessors
could take cognizance for taxation "; and further, that not over four
per cent, or, say, forty thousand persons out of the million, were sub-
ject to any primary tax in respect to the ownership of any property
whatever, real or personal; while only a few years subsequent, or in
1875, the regular tax commissioners of New York estimated that of
the property defined and described by the laws of the State as per-
sonal property, an amount approximating two thousand million dol-
lars in value was held in New York city alone. Later investigations
show that this state of things has continued. Thus, in 1895, out of
a population of about two million, it was estimated that only seventy-
nine thousand, or not over four per cent of the inhabitants of the
city, were subject to primary taxation, and that one half the whole
amount collected in that year was paid by less than a thousand per-
sons. In the city of Boston, where the tax laws are executed in the
most arbitrary manner, the ratio of population directly assessed is
somewhat greater, but aside from the poll tax, which is a per capita
and not a property tax, only 7.27 per cent of residents paid a prop-
erty tax in 1895 out of a population of 494,205. In one of the

322 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

smaller cities of Massachusetts, where persons and property are
capable of more thorough, supervision than larger numbers and
areas — namely, the city of Springfield, with a population of about
fifty thousand — the report of its tax officials shows that for the
year 1894-'95 the number of persons and corporations assessed
on property (mainly real estate) was 7,745, or one for every 6.4 of
its citizens, while 10,560 other citizens were assessed for a poll tax
of two dollars only. Of the total amount of taxes assessed — namely,
$735,948— the above number, 10,560, paid only $21,120; and this
is the experience generally throughout the United States, as it will
be in every country under a free popular government, where arbitrary
inquisitions and arrests of persons and seizures of property are not
allowed, and where a soldier does not practically stand behind every
tax assessor and collector.

The time (1871) when the personal investigations above referred
to were made was when the masses of the city of New York were
moved with indignation at the misuse and private appropriation by a
few officials (Tweed and his associates) of the municipal revenues
raised by taxation, under cover of instituting public improvements,
and which finally led to their prosecution, imprisonment, or self-
imposed exile; and the questions which naturally suggested them-
selves were : If only some forty thousand of the million in New York
city paid the taxes, what interest had the other nine hundred and
sixty thousand who never saw the face of a tax assessor or collector
in opposing corruption? What, in an honest administration of the
city government and in a reduction of taxes ? Must it not be for the
interest of the many that the expenditures of the State shall always
be as large as possible? Must they not be benefited by exorbitant
taxes on the owners of property, and a distribution of the money col-
lected, even if stolen by corruptionists, but spent by them lavishly
on enterprises that will furnish new opportunities for employment or
amusement for the masses? Clearly, so far as any personal experi-
ence growing out of any direct assessment and levy was concerned,
ninety-six per cent of the population of the city had no more cause
of personal grievance by reason of the unlawful taking of money
from the city treasury than they would have had at the taking of
an equivalent amount from the municipal treasuries of London, Paris,
or any other city.

The answer to these questions is to be found in the fact, as John
Adams once remarked, that " if the Creator had given man a reason
that is fallible, he has also impressed upon him an instinct that is
sure." And this instinct teaches the masses everywhere, though they
have never read a book on political economy, or heard any one dis-
course learnedly on the principles of taxation, that if taxes are in-

PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION. 323

creased, either by a lawful or unlawful expenditure of public money,
they can not in any possible way avoid paying some portion of its
increase; or, in other words, that increased taxes meant increased
cost of living, through increased rents, increased price of fuel, cloth-
ing, and provisions, and possibly diminished opportunity to labor
through such increased cost of the products of labor as would limit
and restrict markets or consumption. In short, that taxes inevi-
tably fall upon them through the increased price of all they con-
sume, even if they pay nothing to the tax collector directly. A large
proportion of the masses of the city of New York in 1871— '72, who
paid no taxes directly, accordingly and spontaneously joined hands
with the comparatively few of their fellow-citizens who did pay in
resisting extravagance and corruption.*

We are thus led up and forced to the recognition of two proposi-
tions, or rather principles, in respect to taxation that can not be
invalidated. The first is, that it is not necessary that a tax assessor
or collector should personally assess and levy upon every citizen of a
State or community in order that all should be compelled to con-
tribute of his property for the support of such State or community;
second, that there is an inexorable law by which every man must
bear a portion of the burden of public expendiures, even though the
official assessors take no direct cognizance of him whatever.

The following incident may here be cited as instructive: In one
of the recent official hearings before a legislative committee of one
of the States, a strenuous advocate of the popular doctrine that there
was and could be no such thing as equality in taxation except by
rigidly taxing everybody directly for all his property, of every
description, both real and personal, and that to not tax immediately
and directly was, in at least a great degree, to exempt from taxation,
expressed himself as entirely opposed to any system of restricting
assessments to a comparatively few things, on the ground that it
would be a recognition in the United States of a system which in
Great Britain had ground down the masses into poverty. He, how-
ever, obtained some new light on the subject of nondiffusion by
being reminded that if the masses of England had been grievously
oppressed by taxation, it had been under a system of many years'
standing, which never in any way brings the tax collector in direct
contact with nineteen twentieths of the entire population; the cus-

* The assertion would not be warranted that the masses of New York were wholly unani-
mous in condemning Tweed, for a portion of them were undoubtedly well content with the
situation. He had curried favor with the very poor and ignorant by distributing coal and
flour, and making ostentatious presents of money ; and these " charities " are remembered
to this day in the poorer parts of New York city, and Tweed is esteemed by many as the
victim of injustice, and a man who suffered because he was the friend of the people.

324 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

toms taxes of Great Britain being practically levied on only four
articles — spirits, tea, coffee, and tobacco; and the inland revenue also
on practically four — spirits, beer, legacies and successions, and stamps
(on deeds, insurance policies, bills of exchange, receipts, drafts, etc.).
Generalizing, then, on the basis of so broad a fact, how illogical and
unscientific was the assumption that whatever persons, property, or
business are not taxed directly are exempt from taxation! — and yet
the practical exemplification of such a system, in the case of England,
was a most efficient instrumentality for grinding the masses of her
people down to poverty.

On the other hand, to generalize from the experience of an indi-
vidual or a class in place of that of a nation or community, let us
take the case of a person who passes all the year in transitu — moving
backward and forward, for example, in a boat on the line of the
Erie Canal, or between the head waters of the Mississippi and its
mouth; a citizen of no one State, a resident in no one town, and
buying all that he eats, drinks, and wears wherever he can buy
cheapest. Does this man escape taxation because he has no permanent
situs (residence as a citizen), and is unknown by any assessor? If
he does, then his occupation is more profitable to the extent of the
taxes he avoids than is that of the individual who, following analo-
gous occupations, resides permanently in one location, and pays taxes
regularly; or else some notable, easily discernible cause, as undue
competition to obtain situations, will account for his exemption.

Let us next consider how practical experience definitely indicates
the line of least resistance, in conformity with which those con-
tributions of property or service which the State requires its citizens
to make for its support, and are worthy of designation as taxes, diffuse
themselves. Let us take first that form of indirect taxation which is
known as customs, or taxes on imports, one from which the Federal
Government of the United States has derived in recent years more
than half of its revenue, and Great Britain more than one fourth
of its total receipts from all forms of imperial taxes. That
all such taxes as a rule diffuse themselves, and ultimately fall upon
and are paid by final consumers, is capable of demonstration by a
great variety of evidence. Every remission of customs duties on the
imports into any country of its staple articles of consumption is fol-
lowed by a reduction of cost approximately equal to such reduction,
and a consequent increase in consumption. On the other hand, noth-
ing is better settled than that an increase in customs taxes on imported
articles as a rule increases prices and tends to reduce consumption.
When Great Britain, in 1863, reduced her taxes (duties) on her
imports of tea from Is. 5d. to Is. per pound, her importation of
tea increased from 114,000,000 pounds in 1862 to 139,000,000 in

PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION. 325

IS 66, and her per capita consumption during the same period from
2.70 pounds to 3.42 pounds; and again, when the duty was further
reduced in 1865 from Is. to 6d. per pound, the annual importations
increased from 139,000,000 in 1866 to 209,000,000 in 1881, and the
per capita consumption from 3.42 pounds to 4.58.

When by the act of October, 1890, the tax was removed from the
imports of crude sugars into the United States, the price of the same
went down almost immediately to an equal extent in all American
markets; while the consumption of sugar in the country increased from
an average of about fifty-four pounds per capita in 1890 to more than
sixty-seven pounds in 1892. A like result has attended a similar ex-
perience in respect to this in other countries, and especially in Great
Britain. Thus, the aggregate consumption of sugar by the British
people in 1844 was returned at 237,143 tons. A reduction of taxes
on its importation in 1864 increased its domestic use to 528,919 tons;
a reduction of fifty per cent on existing rates in 1870 made it 695,029
tons; another reduction of fifty per cent in 1873 carried up consump-
tion to 779,000 tons; and when, in 1874, all taxes on the imports of
sugar were abolished, the annual domestic consumption increased in
little more than a year's period to 930,000 tons. On the other hand,
when by the tariff act of 1890 an additional tax of half a cent per
pound was imposed on the import of tin plate into the United States,
tin plate went up to an equal extent in price all over the country; and
so also on pearl buttons, linen goods, and other articles of foreign pro-
duction on the importations of which the tariff taxes were largely
increased. By the tariff act of 1890, also, eggs, which could formerly
be imported into the United States free of duty, were made subject to
a tax of five cents per dozen. Since then the price of eggs imported
from Canada into districts of the United States within the same
sphere of territorial competition has been increased to the Ameri-
can consumers to almost exactly the extent of the import tax to
which they are subjected. Thus, when the price of eggs was ten
and a half cents per dozen in Toronto, they were sixteen cents in Buf-
falo and sixteen and a half to seventeen cents in New York. Such a
result would be unaccountable if the Canadian farmers paid the duty
on eggs sent by them to the United States.

It is interesting to here ask attention to the opinions entertained
and expressed by those whose situation and experience have qualified
them to speak with authority: "The duty constitutes the price of
the whole mass of the article in the market. It is substantially paid
on the article of domestic manufacture, as well as that of foreign pro-
duction " (John Quincy Adams). " I said it, and I stand by it, that
as a general rule the duties paid on imports operate as a tax upon the
consumer " (John Sherman). Mr. Blaine, in his Twenty Years in

326 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Congress, says, speaking of the increase of duties on imports by the
tariff act of July 14, 1862, that it " shut out still more conclusively
all competition from foreign fabrics. The increased cost was charged
to the consumer." Mr. McKinley, in 1890, in a report introducing
a bill for revision of the tariff of the United States, in the direction of
increased rates of duties on imports, said it was not the intent of the
bill " to further cut down prices," that the people were " already
suffering from low prices," and would not be satisfied " with legisla-
tion which will result in lower prices." In an elaborate opinion
given by the ISTew York Court of Appeals in 1851 (see vol. iv, New
York Reports), in which there was no suspicion of any issue of free
trade or protection, the courts, in carefully considering the relative
powers of the legislature and the judiciary in respect to taxation,
assumed the proposition that " all duties on imported goods are taxes
on the class of consumers " to be in the nature of a self-evident truth
or economic axiom.

Henry Clay, in a celebrated speech in the United States House
of Representatives in 1833, in advocacy of a protective tariff policy,
candidly admitted that " in general it may be taken as a rule that
the duty upon an article forms a portion of its price." But he sub-
sequently qualified such admission by claiming that it does not fol-
low that any consequent enhancement of its price is a tax on con-
sumers, inasmuch as " directly or indirectly, in one form or another,
all consumers of protected articles, enhanced in price," will get an
equivalent. But this may be equally affirmed of all necessary and
equitable taxation, and does not in any way antagonize the theory that
the final incidence of the class of taxes under consideration falls on
consumption.

But, notwithstanding these conclusions and the incontrovertible
evidence by which they are supported, not a few persons occupying
places of great legislative influence, and no small part of the general
public, hold to the view that taxes on imports are really in the nature
of premiums paid by foreigners for the privilege of selling their
goods in the markets of the importing country, and do not fall on its
people who consume them. That means that if the foreigner has a
yard of cloth, or other commodity, which he sells at home for one
dollar, and the United States imposes a tariff of fifty cents on it, he
will then sell it for export to America at fifty cents. There is no in-
stance mentioned in history where this has ever been done, but history
unfortunately is rarely taken into account by the public in the dis-
cussion of these questions. In this connection the following his-
torical incident is interesting and instructive: In 1782 an attempt
by the Congress of the Confederation of the several American States
to provide a system of revenue to defray the general expenses of the

PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION. 327

Confederation by duties on imports, which then was not permissible,
was blocked by the refusal of the State of Rhode Island to concur
in it, the Legislature of that State unanimously rejecting the measure
for three reasons — one of which was that it would bear hardest on the
few commercial States, particularly Rhode Island, which in virtue
of their relations with foreign commerce monopolize imports, and
lightest on the agricultural States, that directly imported little or
nothing. Congress appointed Alexander Hamilton to draft a reply
to Rhode Island, and in his answer he relied mainly on what he re-
garded as an incontrovertible fact, that duties on imports would not
prove a charge on an importing State, but on the final consumers of
imports, wherever they may be located.

If the theory and assumption so confidently and generally as-
serted are to be accepted as correct, that the foreigner pays the pro-
tective taxes which a country levies on its imports, and that they do
not fall upon or are not paid by its people who consume them, then
it must follow that to the extent that a country taxes its imports it
lives at the expense of foreign nations; and that, as Great Britain is
the country with which the United States has the largest foreign
trade, it must pay the largest share of the customs taxes of the United
States, or a good share of its annual revenue from all sources. Atten-
tion is further asked to the exact practical application of this theory.
Thus, the United States in 1895 imported $36,438,196 worth of
woolen manufactures, on which it assessed and collected duties (taxes)
to the amount of $20,698,264, or 56.80 per cent of the value of
such imports. Certainly this was a pretty heavy tax on foreign na-
tions in respect to the sales of only one class of these commodities;
but it represented but a tithe of what the tariff taxes of the United
States, if paid by foreigners, cost them. Thus they had to sell their
woolens to the people of the latter country at less than half their
value in order to compensate for the 56.8 per cent tax. But a nation
engaged in foreign trade can not as a rule have two prices for the
product of its industries; or one price for what it sells at home and
another and different price for what it sells to foreigners. So the
fifty-six per cent deducted from the cost of the woolens sold by for-
eigners to the United States necessarily had to be deducted not only
from so much of their product consumed at home, but also from what
they sent for sale to all foreign countries. A further practical appli-
cation of this theory is worthy of consideration. As Great Britain
imposes no protective duties or taxes on its imports, it evidently can
not collect anything from other nations by the system of taxation
under consideration. On the other hand, the aggregate value of its
exports sent to foreign nations during the year 1892 was $1,135,-
000,000, and if these several nations taxed this value at the average

328 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

rate which the United States imposed in 1894 on all its dutiable im-
ports — namely, fifty per cent — Great Britain obviously had to pay
some $557,000,000 in that year for the support of foreign govern-
ments; and while this has been the experience of Great Britain
for more than forty years of this century, she has as a nation been
increasing in wealth during this whole period.

Some of the recent official experiences of the Government of
the United States that are pertinent to the topic under considera-
tion are sufficiently curious to make them worthy of an economic
record. In a speech introducing a bill into the United States House
of Representatives, which subsequently resulted in the tariff act of
1890, the then chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means laid
down the following proposition : " The Government ought not to
buy abroad what it can buy at home. Nor should it be exempted
from the laws it imposes upon its citizens."

This would seem to warrant the characterization of a discovery
that the United States had some reliable and important source of
revenue independent of taxation,* and that, by compelling the appli-
cation of a part of this income to the payment of taxes to itself, the
Government is placed upon an equality with the citizens. A
legitimate criticism on this proposition is that the idea that all
the income of the Treasury is derived from the people, and that to
transfer portions of this income from one official recipient to another
can have hardly any other result than an additional cost of book-
keeping, seems never to have entered the mind of the speaker.

Again, the United States tariff act of 1883 contained in its free
list a provision for the admittance of " articles imported for the use
of the United States, provided that the price of the same did not in-
clude the duty " imposed on such importations. Under the tariff act
of 1890 this provision was stricken out of the statute, with the result
that when the Government imported any articles for its own use which
were subject to duties (as, for example, materials to be used in the
National Bureau of Printing and Engraving), it was obliged, in vir-
tue of its nonexemption from the laws which it imposed on its own
citizens, to pay such duties itself. But as the Government has no
authority to expend money for any purpose without the authority
of Congress, the latter body accordingly authorized the Federal
Treasury to apropriate money from its tax receipts and make pay-
ments with the same to the customhouse, which the customhouse
was to immediately pay back into the Treasury. Just what process

* Of the net ordinary receipts of the Federal Government ($385,819,000) in 1893, only
about $12,000,000 was derived from sources that could not be regarded as taxes, and were
mainly receipts from the sales and surveys of public and Indian lands ($4,120,000) and of
other Government property.

PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION. 329

was gone through with to effect such a result the public was not
informed, but probably the collector of customs drew his warrant on
the Treasury, had the amount credited to his account, and then re-
credited to the Treasury. But, be this as it may, it is clear that the
Government, under the conditions above stated, paid the tax on its
imports ; that the tax may be regarded in the light of a penalty on the
Government for importing articles for its own use; and that the
action of Congress in authorizing the Treasury to appropriate money
for the payment of such taxes was a recognition or admission by that
body that a tax upon imports neither puts anything in nor takes any-
thing from the pocket of the foreigner. Does it not, moreover, invest
with a degree of comicality a law enacted by the Congress of the
United States for the purpose of taxing foreign importers, which
necessitated the enactment by it of another law appropriating money
to enable the United States to pay customs taxes every time on every-
thing that it may import for its own use ? * Finally, if the foreigner

* In 1897 the merchant tailors of the United States, who ought to know something
about the incidence of a custom tax on imported clothing, united in a petition to Congress
asking that Americans returning from Europe be permitted to introduce only two suits of
foreign-made clothes free of duty ; and in support of their request they comment as follows
on a ruling of the Treasury in respect to this matter: " Under this ruling it was possible to
enter free of duty vast quantities of foreign-made garments which had never been actually
in use, and which were so imported solely because there exists a relative difference of at
least fifty per cent in values between the cost of made-up garments in the United States
and Europe, thus saving to the purchaser of garments abroad one half of their actual value
upon arrival within the United States duty free." But if the foreigner who made and sold
the goods in question was liable to pay the duty on dutiable clothing, and attended to his
duty, there would be no profit to the returning tourist in importing clothing free of duty.
It is further evident also that American tailors agree in opinion with Alexander Hamilton
that the consumers of imported articles pay the customs taxes.

The records of the commercial relations between the United States and Canada are ex-
ceedingly instructive on this matter. They all show that for the products which the Cana-
dian sends to the United States, and on which somebody pays the duty, he receives exactly
the same price as for those products which he sends to England, on which nobody pays any
duty. This experience is exactly the same as that of the farmers of the Northwestern
States of the Federal Union, who usually get the same price for their wheat furnished to a
Minnesota flour mill, or for shipment to free-trade England, as to countries like France and
Germany, where heavy duties are assessed upon its import. The term " usually " is employed,
for producers in the United States and Canada alike do not always get as large a price for
the articles they export as for the same articles they sell to their fellow-countrymen.
Again, if it be true, as the advocates of extreme protection assert, that the foreign exporter
and not the consumer pays the duties on goods sent by him for sale in this country, how
does it happen that it is not true concerning the farm produce and live stock exported from
Canada ? And why should American farmers be exempt from this rule in sending their
grain to Europe ? Has anybody ever known of England buying American products any
cheaper in New York than France or Germany, and is it not also true that the French or
German or Italian consumer usually pays at least the amount of the duty levied by his Gov-
ernment more for American products than his English competitor has, whose imports are
subjected to no duty? During the period from 1854 to 1866 there was, under the reci-

VOL. L1V. — 24

33 o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

and not our citizens pays our customs taxes on imports, what is the
object of placing by specific statutes any article on the free list?
Why not let him continue to pay millions of taxes for us, as, for
example, on sugar?

OUR FLORIDA ALLIGATOR.

By I. W. BLAKE.

AN alligator is not an attractive creature. He has not a single
- virtue that can be named. He is cowardly, treacherous, hide-
ous. He is neither graceful nor even respectable in appearance. He
is not even amusing or grotesque in his ungainliness, for as a brute —
a brute unqualified — he is always so intensely real, that one shrinks
from him with loathing; and a laugh at his expense while in his
presence would seem curiously out of place.

His personality, too, is strong. Once catch the steadfast gaze of
a free, adult alligator's wicked eyes, with their odd vertical pupils
fixed full upon your own, and the significance of the expression
" evil eye," and the mysteries of snake-charming, hypnotism, and hoo-
dooism will be readily understood, for his brutish, merciless, un-
flinching stare is simply blood-chilling.

Zoologically the alligator belongs to the genus Crocodilus, and
he has all the hideousness of that family, lacking somewhat its
bloodthirstiness, although the American alligator is carnivorous by
nature, and occasionally cannibalistic. Strictly speaking, however,
the true alligator is much less dangerous than his relatives of the
Old World, and he is correspondingly less courageous.

One would suppose the saurians, or crocodilians, from their gen-
eral appearance to be huge lizards, but the resemblance is super-
ficial. The whole internal structure differs widely, and, subdivided

procity treaty, practically free trade between Canada and the United States in live stock,
wool, barley, rye, peas, oats, and other farm products, while subsequent to 1866, when
the reciprocity treaty had been repealed, duties were imposed on all these articles on their
import from Canada into the United States. During the first period Canadian horses,
for example, sold under free trade for shipment to the United States at from sixty-five
to eighty-five dollars each, while during the years next subsequent to 1866 the value of
the Canadian horses imported into the United States was returned at from ninety-two to one
hundred and four dollars each ; thus showing that the United States tariff did not force the
Canadian horse breeders to lower their prices in order to compensate American purchasers
for the duties exacted. And as regards the other products mentioned, the official data show
that in no case did the imposition of duties under the United States tariff reduce the prices
paid by American purchasers to the Canadian farmers foi their products. These are very
commonplace, very familiar, and very convincing facts which ought to sil?nee all this talk
about the foreign exporter or anybody else but the consumer paying the duty ; but it is not
at all probable that they will.

OUR FLORIDA ALLIGATOR. 33 1

into gavials, crocodiles, and alligators, they form a family by them-
selves which is widespread, extending into considerable areas of the
temperate regions.

All crocodilians are great, ungainly reptiles, having broad, de-
pressed bodies, short legs, and long, powerful, and wonderfully flexi-
ble tails which are compressed — that is, flattened sideways. Upon
the upper surface of the tail lie two jagged or saw-toothed crests,
which unite near the middle of the appendage, continuing in a single
row to the extremity.

All have thick necks and bodies protected by regular transverse
rows of long, horny plates or shields, which are elevated in the center
into keel-shaped ridges, forming an armor that is quite bullet-proof.
The throat, the under side of the neck, and belly are not thus pro-
tected, and it is at these places, as well as at the eyes, and also just
behind the ears, that the hunter directs his aim.

The principal points of difference between a gavial and a croco-
dile are these: the former has very long, slender jaws, set with
twenty-seven teeth in each side of the upper jaw and with twenty-
five teeth in the under, while at the extremity of the snout there are
two holes, through which pass upward the lower large front teeth,
but all the remaining teeth are free, and slant well outward ; whereas
a crocodile has a head that is triangular, the snout being the apex;
a narrow muzzle, and canine teeth in the lower jaw, which pass freely
upward in the notches in the side of the upper jaw.

An alligator has a broad, flat muzzle, and the canine teeth of
the lower jaw fit into sockets in the under surface of the upper jaw.
It is strictly an American form of the family. Its feet being much
less webbed, its habits are also less perfectly aquatic, and, preferring
still or stagnant fresh-water courses or swamps, it is rarely found in
tide-water streams.

The crocodile, on the contrary, is commonly found in swift-run-
ning, fresh and salt water rivers. He is a sagacious brute, and
ferocious, often attacking human beings without provocation; but
the alligator, as a rule, is not disposed to fight, although in South
America, where it goes by the name of caiman or cayman, it grows
to an enormous size, and is said to be fully as dangerous as the croco-
dile. There is also a variety of the family — that is, a true crocodile —
found in Florida, but it is very rare, and smaller than its Asiatic
relative.

The mouths of all these reptiles, which are large and extend be-
yond the ears, present a formidable array of sharp, conical teeth of
different sizes, set far apart in the crocodile and the alligator, some
being enlarged into tusks. All are implanted in separate sockets, and
form a single row upon each jaw. When a tooth is shed or broken, a

33 2

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

new one promptly comes up beneath the hollow base of the old one ;
and in this way, all ready for the need, sometimes three or four wait ■
ing teeth, packed together like a nest of thimbles, may be seen in the
jaw of a dead alligator.

The alligator is at best an awkward brute. Slow and ungainly
upon land — although even there his powerful tail can, when neces-

Young Pet Alligator. From photograph by E. L. Russell, Palm Beach.

sary, assist the scuffling paws to an astonishing extent if the creature
is in haste — he shows to better advantage in the water. There he
turns his clumsy body with wonderful dexterity and swiftness, when,
at the sight of a swimming muskrat or a wading dog, he instantly
changes from what has resembled a drifting log idly floating upon
the calm surface of the swamp, into a thing of life — fierce and
horrible.

The general food of an alligator is fish, turtles, and frogs, with an
occasional heedless dog or fowl. A number of adult alligators will
quickly deplenish a small, clear-water lake of its finny inhabitants,
which statement to would-be Florida fishermen will readily account
for the lack in manv localities. There is also a curious belief in the

OUR FLORIDA ALLIGATOR. 333

South that the creature has an especial liking for a " darkey steak,"
and for this reason he is feared by the negroes. That he becomes
carnivorous to a dangerous extent when pressed by hunger, there is
no doubt, for, the supply of fish exhausted, he must look for larger
game.

Partially concealed by rubbish, or floating idly close to the bank
— always only a short distance from his retreat — he so closely resem-
bles an old and weather-worn log that no suspicion is aroused. Pres-
ently a razorback comes down the narrow trail that meanders through
the scrub and passes close to the reptile. Let it pass between the
alligator and the water — that is, between the creature and his cave—
and the end has come. An alligator seldom misses, and one spring,
leap, or plunge, or whatever the swift, clumsy movement may be
called, and the wretched animal is seized and held fast, either by the
nose or leg, as a rule. Then the struggle begins, for the razorback
loves its life, despised pig of the Florida flatwoods though it is.

Alligators drown their prey. Their own nostrils and throats are
so arranged that they themselves can sink to the bottom without
danger of suffocation, although their mouths, or rather their jaws,
may be widely stretched with the body of their victim. Indeed,
they can reascend to the surface to breathe without releasing the
prize; and, as this power is so closely connected with their method of
killing the larger animals, a description of the latter, repulsive
though it is, may not be out of place.

The teeth of an alligator are better adapted for crushing and
crunching than for biting. Therefore, for him to eat a struggling
animal would be difficult. Instinct teaches him that it must 'first
be killed.

To dispose of a dog or a chicken is a small matter, for when the
alligator meets it upon the bank one strong, far-reaching sweep of
the powerful tail tosses it far out upon the lake. The alligator simply
follows, grasps the half -stunned creature in his jaws, and disappears
beneath the surface, where he remains until all is quiet. With a
larger animal, however, he proceeds differently, for the reason that a
yearling, a colt, or a razorback is not so easily handled. First, there-
fore, a description of an alligator's cave must be given, since it is to
this grewsome retreat that the hideous brute takes his booty.

Selecting some spot where the water is deep — usually beneath
some overhanging bank — an alligator excavates what is called a
" cave." Any one, standing upon the border of a lake or swamp in
Florida, may, all unconsciously, be directly over one of these places.
He makes it sufficiently large to accommodate one or more of his
kind, by dragging out the mud and roots with the strong claws or
nails that arm his fore paws or legs. These " caves " serve in winter

334 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

for hibernation, and at other times for the purpose that will be ex-
plained.

Once in the water, then — to return to the unhappy razorback—
the alligator does not rely wholly upon his teeth and jaws to hold the
desperate animal. He can not yet sink, for the victim is too strong'.
It must first be drowned, and a furious struggle for the mastery
then begins.

By degrees the brute finally succeeds in dragging the animal out
into water sufficiently deep to suit his purpose, and then he clasps it
firmly with his paws, precisely like the hugging of a bear. He then
begins to roll over and over. Now beneath the surface, now out,
he turns and turns, first the alligator uppermost, then his prey, alter-
nately, until the poor animal is drowned literally by inches. Before
long the razorback weakens, his struggles lessen, and then the alli-
gator sinks to the bottom, and when all motion has ceased he deposits
the body in his cave, well pleased with the prospect of a full larder
for some time to come.

One might naturally ask just here whether or not this scene
would be the same were a human being the victim. The reply would
be — precisely.

The alligator undoubtedly prefers his food in a partly decomposed
condition, although it is an undecided point whether this preference
arises from a natural taste, or for the reason that food in that state is
softer and more easily torn apart. Whichever may be the case, Na-
ture unasked supplies the remedy, and the alligator takes advantage
of her assistance, and deposits his victim in his hiding place, confident
that at the proper time it will rise to the surface in the condition best
adapted to his needs.

Although by nature the alligator is amphibious, he passes the
greater part of his time upon land during the breeding season. At
such times, also, he migrates from one clear-water lake or swamp to
another, should he not find a mate in his own locality, and he may
not infrequently be met in his overland journeyings. Alligators are
not strictly gregarious, although large numbers are found in the same
body of water; while, on the contrary, there will often be but one or
two that will haunt a certain tract for a long period.

During this season the bull alligator is very noisy, and his deep
bellowing may be heard for a long distance. To state that this noise
causes the ground to vibrate may seem an exaggeration, but the fact
may easily be proved by visiting a swamp where the reptiles have con-
gregated. The water in the vicinity will plainly show the jarring of
the ground.

This bellow is a thundering, rumbling sound; and when it is
combined with the startling hisses, blowings, sighs, and deep-breathed

OUR FLORIDA ALLIGATOR.

335

snorts which the creature can produce at will, no one will be likely
to dispute that his collection of diabolical noises is quite complete.

During the period of incubation the female alligator is a devoted
mother. She does not desert her nest from the time that the eggs
are laid until they are hatched — lying concealed in the scrub close
by — and she is naturally, at this time, most dangerous to approach,
although her vigilance does not always save a portion of her un-
hatched progeny from the numerous enemies that have a fondness
for alligator omelet.

The nest is a large, well-rounded heap or mound, composed of
sand and rubbish, which she drags and pushes together with her

• ■ ; j

Group of Captive Alligators. From photograph by 0. P. Hareus, Jacksonville.

claws. Throughout this mound she deposits her eggs, from forty to
seventy and over. These eggs resemble those of a goose, only that
they are larger; they have a thick, tough shell, and are of about the
same size at both ends. In about sixty days, the heat of the sun,
combined with the warmth and moisture generated by the fermenta-
tion of the rubbish, completes thcprocess of incubation, and the little
ones begin to come forth.

Forcing their way through the sand, they hurry down the sloping
sides of the mound, straightway seeking the water by instinct. While
these baby 'gators are thus kicking and flinging off their shell over-
coats as they emerge from their incubator, perfect little duplicates
of their mother — only that they are rather pretty in their clean,
glossy, black or dark-brown skins, which have orange-colored stripes
that completely ring their miniature tails and bodies — she wanders

336 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

anxiously about, probably wondering how many of her family will
succeed in running the very uncertain gantlet of life.

For, eaten while in the egg stage by birds and animals, and swal-
lowed by open-mouthed, expectant fishes, and by other alligators —
often led, if the truth must be told, by the interesting father himself
— as soon as they reach the water, the early days of an alligator are
full of trouble. That enough escape to prevent extinction, however,
goes almost without saying.

Alligators are hunted for their teeth, which find a ready market
when made up into pretty ornaments; and of late years extensively
for their hides, which make a very handsome leather. For this pur-
pose the older specimens are not valuable, their hides being too
gnarled, knotty, and moss-grown to tan well. After ten or fifteen
years the hide coarsens. It is always the skin from the under side of
the body and head which is used, that from the back being so heavily
armored with tough, horny plates and shields as to be practically use-
less. The flesh for food finds but few admirers. Like the eggs, it is
permeated by a strong, musky flavor, too rank to find appreciation
from a refined palate; but in some places the steaks from the reptile
are eaten by the negroes and pronounced good.

To successfully hunt the alligator requires experience, for quick
work is necessary, the brute disappearing at the least suspicion of
danger. Hunting by " jack " is the usual method pursued, for the
light seems to charm the creature, so that he may be more easily
detained until a properly directed bullet speedily puts an end to his
existence.

A professional alligator hunter, or a " 'gator man," as he is called,
leads a life full of adventure, but his business is upon the wane, since
the fad for alligator leather is being pushed aside to make way for
something later and more novel. Nevertheless, a description of his
outfit may not be uninteresting.

A most important adjunct to this outfit is the man who usually
accompanies the 'gator man upon his expeditions. He might properly
be called the silent partner, for his duty is to instantly and silently
obey the different hand signals, meaning " To the right," " To the
left," "Stop," "Back," "Hurry," "Forward," "Spurt," "Slow,"
given by the hunter, while standing erect in the bow of the boat,
when out with the " jack." Indeed, upon his alertness depends much
of the success or failure of the night's work.

The other tools used by the 'gator man are a light, strong boat,
a pair of light oars and a broad-bladed paddle with a four-foot handle,
neatly coiled rope, a jack lamp furnished with a powerful reflector,
an axe, a long, keen-bladed hunting knife, two guns (twelve-bore
breech-loaders, for a heavy charge at one delivery is absolutely neces-

OUR FLORIDA ALLIGATOR. 337

sarj), bags of ammunition, some strong chains, rawhide rope, and a
'gator pole. This last-mentioned " tool " is a stout pole about ten
feet long, armed with a heavy hook of quarter-inch iron, bearing a
barbed shank of two inches or more, and it is used for hauling the
dead alligators from the bottom, for the creatures sink as soon as
killed.

The brilliant rays from the " jack " reveal a curious and a grew-
some sight when thrown upon a bank or island upon which a group of
the creatures have congregated. The shining waters of the swam]),
so still and black at that hour of midnight; the hideous tangle of
huge gray forms, as a dozen or more alligators, fairly intoxicated by
the gleam of the mysterious light, steadfastly watch its incomprehen-
sible presence. Gazing intently, their evil eyes blood-red in the glare
from the powerful reflector, some lie motionless, others roar and hiss
and snort with thrilling fierceness as the mystery deepens, inces-
santly arching their bodies, then alternately depressing them to the
ground. Still others, crawling from beneath their companions,
scuffle angrily to the front, and stand with jaws partly open — now
and then slowly inflating their lungs, until their throats and sides
puff out like bellows. Yet, strange to say, instinct seems to warn the
mother alligator, for there she may be seen quietly creeping away
with her young.

Then, the loud reports from the guns, and the mystery is dis-
pelled! The island is deserted, and the work of raising the success-
fully shot saurians begins.

Boards of rural engineering, syndicates of specialists organized in
several of the countries of northern Europe to look after drainage and irri-
gation, have rendered great services to the populations of the country dis-
tricts. With their aid 591 villages in Alsace-Lorraine were provided with
water between 1881 and 1895, and 516 communes in Baden have been bene-
fited by their assistance. The expense of the improvement has not ex
ceeded $6.61 (33 francs) per inhabitant. The Agricultural Bureau in Prus-
sia has in the past five years drawn the plans and directed the work of 554
hydraulic syndicates, covering a total surface of more than 600,000 acres.
A numerous body of these agricultural engineers is formed every year in
Germany, 517 students having pursued the course of the section of rural
engineering in 1893 in the agronomical institutes of Bonn and Berlin alone.

It is generally accepted that the spider is a solitary animal, that will
tolerate no companions, even the male being in danger of being devoured
by his female. But a spider — the Stregodyphus gregarius — is described as
living in the Transvaal in communities, including males and females,
young and old. The nests are sometimes voluminous and have partitions
and numerous passages running through them. The spiders usually escape
observation by wrapping themselves in dry leaves that hang from stems.

338 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

THE RACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE.

A SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY.

{Lowell Institute Lectures, 1896.)
By WILLIAM Z. RIPLEY, Ph. D.,

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY; LECTURER
IN ANTHROPO-GEOGRAPIIY AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY'.

SUPPLEMENT.— THE JEWS (continued).

TRADITION has long divided the Jewish people into two dis-
tinct branches: the Sephardim, or southern, and the Ashkena-
zim or north, European. Mediaeval legend among the Jews them-
selves traced the descent of the first from the tribe of Jndah; the sec-
ond, from that of Benjamin. The Sephardim are mainly the remnants
of the former Spanish and Portuguese Jews. They constitute in
their own eyes an aristocracy of the nation. They are found prima-
rily to-day in Africa; in the Balkan states, where they are known as
Spagnuoli; less purely in France and Italy. A small colony in Lon-
don and Amsterdam still holds itself aloof from all communion and
intercourse with its brethren. The Ashkenazim branch is numer-
ically far more important, for the German, Russian, and Polish Jews
comprise over nine tenths of the people, as we have already seen in
our preceding article.

Early observers all describe these two branches of the Jews as
very different in appearance. Vogt, in his Lectures on Man, as-
sumes the Polish type to be descended from Hindu sources, while
the Spanish alone he held to be truly Semitic. Weisbach * gives
us the best description of the Sephardim Jew as to-day found at
Constantinople. He is slender in habit, he says; almost without
exception the head is " exquisitely ' : elongated and narrow, the
face a long oval; the nose hooked and prominent, but thin and
finely chiseled; hair and eyes generally dark, sometimes, however,
tending to a reddish blond. This rufous tendency in the Oriental
Jew is emphasized by many observers. Dr. Beddoe f found red
hair as frequent in the Orient as in Saxon England, although later
results do not fully bear it out.:}: This description of a reddish Ori-
ental type corresponds certainly to the early representations of the
Saviour; it is the type, in features, perhaps, rather than hair,
painted by Rembrandt — the Sephardim in Amsterdam being fa-
miliar to him, and appealing to the artist in preference to the Ash-

* 1877, p. 214. t 1861 1>, PP- 22 ? and 331 -

% Gliick, 1896 a. Jacobs, 1890, p. 82, did not find a trace of it in the Sephardim con-
gregation in London. See Andree, 1878, in this connection.

THE RACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE. 339

kenazim type. This latter is said to be characterized by heavier fea-
tures in every way. The mouth, it is alleged, is more apt to be large,
the nose thickish at the end, less often clearly Jewish, perhaps. The
lips are full and sensual, offering an especial contrast to the thin
lips of the Sephardim. The complexion is swarthy oftentimes, the
hair and eyes very constantly dark, without the rufous tendency
which appears in the other branch. The face is at the same time
fuller, the breadth corresponding to a relatively short and round
head.

Does this contrast of the traditional Sephardim and Ashkenazim
facial types correspond to the anthropometric criteria by means of
which we have analyzed the various populations of Europe? And,
first of all, is there the difference of head form between the two
which our descriptions imply? * And, if so, which represents the
primitive Semitic type of Palestine? The question is a crucial one.
It involves the whole matter of the original physical derivation of
the people, and the rival claims to purity of descent of the two
branches of the nation. In preceding papers we have learned that
western Asia is quite uniformly characterized by an exceeding broad-
headedness, the cephalic index — that is to say, the breadth of the
head in percentage of the length from front to back — often rising to
86. This is especially marked in Asia Minor, where some of the
broadest and shortest crania in the world are to be found. The
Armenians, for example, are so peculiar in this respect that their
heads appear almost deformed, so flattened are they at the back. A
head of the description appears in the case of our Jew from Fer-
ghanah on our second portrait page, 344. On the other hand, the
peoples of African or negroid derivation form a radical contrast, their
heads being quite long and narrow, with indices ranging from 75
to 78. This is the type of the living Arab to-day. Its peculiarity
appears in the prominence of the occipital region in our Arab and
other African portraits. Scientific research upon these Arabs has
invariably yielded harmonious results. From the Canary Islands, f
all across northern Africa,:}: to central Arabia itself,* the cephalic
indices of the nomadic Arabs agree closely. They denote a head
form closely allied to that of the Jong-headed Iberian races, typified
in the modern Spaniards, south Italians, and Greeks. It was the
head form of the ancient Phoenicians and Egyptians also, as has re-

* The cephalic index by which we measure the head-form is merely the breadth of the
head in percentage of its length from front to back. The index rises as the head becomes
relatively more broad.

f Verneau, 1881 a, p 500.

\ Primer Bey, 65 b; Gillebert d'Hercourt, 1868, p. 9 ; and especially Collignon, 1887 a,
pp. 326-339; Bertholon, 1892, p. 41 ; also Collignon, 1896 b.

* Eliseev, 1883.

34°

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

cently been proved beyond all question.* Thus does the European
Mediterranean type shade off in head form, as in complexion also, into
the primitive anthropological type of the negro. The situation being
thus clearly defined, it should be relatively easy to trace our modern
Jews, if, indeed, as has so long been assumed, they have remained
a pure and undefiled race during the course of their incessant migra-
tions. We should be able to trace their origin if they possess any
distinctive head form, either to the one continent or the other, with
comparative certainty.

During the last quarter of a century about twenty-five hundred
Jews have submitted their heads to scientific measurement. These
have naturally for the most part been taken from the Great Russian
and Polish branch ; a few observers, as Lombroso, Ikof , Jacobs, Gluek,
and Livi, have taken observations upon a more or less limited number
from southern Europe. For purposes of comparison we have repro-
duced in our footnote a summary of all the results obtained thus far.
Inspection of the table shows a surprising uniformity. Ikof's
limited series of Spagnuoli from Constantinople, and that of the
Jews from Caucasia and Daghestan, are the only ones whose cephalic
index lies outside the limits of 80 to 83. In other words, the Jews,

Authority.

Lombroso, 1894 a

Weisbach, '77

Majer and Kopernicki, '77 .

Blechmann, '82

Stieda, '83 (Dvbowski)

Ikof, '84 "

Ikof, '84

Ikof, '84

Majer and Kopernicki, '85 .

Jacobs, '90

Jacobs, '90

Talko-Hyrncewicz, '92

Chantre, '95

Weissenberg, '95

Weissenberg, '95

Gliick, '96

Livi, '96

Elkind, '97

Deniker, '98

Place.

Turin, Italy.

Balkan states.

Galicia.

W. Russia.

Minsk, Russia.

Russia.

Constantinople.

Crimea.

Galicia.

England.

England (Sephardim).

Lithuania.

Caucasia.

South Russia.

South Russia.

Bosnia (Spagnuoli).

Italy.

Poland.

Daghestan.

Number.

Cephalic Index.

112

82 .

19

82.2

316

83.6

100

83.2

67

82.2

120

83.2

17 crania.

74.5

30 crania (Karaim).

83.3

100

81.7

363

80.0

51

713

34

85 .

100

82.5

50 women.

82.4

55

80.1

34

81.6

325

j Men, 81.9
"/ Women, 82.9

19

87.0

wherever found in Europe, betray a remarkable similarity in head
form, the crania being considerably broader than among the peoples
of Teutonic descent. As we know, the extremes of head form in
Europe, measured by the cephalic index, extend from 74 to 89; we
thus observe that the Jews take a place rather high in the European

* Bertholon, 1892, p. 43; Sergi, 1897 a, chapter i, and even more recently Fouquet,
1896 and 1897, on the basis of De Morgan's discoveries.

THE RACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE.

34 1

Arab. Index, 76.

Mussulman, Tunis. Index, 75.

Jew, Tunis. Index, 75.

African Semitic Types.

342 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

series. They are about like the northern French and southern Ger-
mans. More important still, they seem to be generally very closely
akin in head form to the people among whom they reside. Thus,
in Russia and Poland scarcely an appreciable difference exists in
this respect between Jews and Christians. The same is true in
Turin, while in the direction of Asia our Jews are as bullet-headed
as even the most typical Armenians and Caucasians round about
them.

This surprising similarity of head form between the Jews of
North and South Europe bears hard upon the long-accepted theory
that the Sephardim is dolichocephalic, thereby remaining true to the
original Semitic type borne to-day by the Arabs. It has quite
universally been accepted that the two branches of the Jews differed
most materially in head form. From the facial dissimilarity of the
two a correlative difference in head form was a gratuitous inference.
Dr. Beddoe observes that in Turkey the Spagnuoli " seemed ' ' to
him to be more dolichocephalic. A few years later Barnard Davis
(1867) " suspected " a diversity, but had only three Italian skulls
to judge from, so that his testimony counts for little. Then Weis-
bach (1877) referred to the " exquisitely " long heads of the Spag-
nuoli, but his data show a different result. Ikof, with his small
series of crania from Constantinople, is the only observer who got a
result which accords in any degree with what we know of the head
form of the modern Semitic peoples. On the other hand, Gluck in
Bosnia and Livi in Italy find no other sign of long-headedness than
a slight drop in index of a point or two. Jacobs, in England, whose
methods, as Topinard has observed, are radically defective, gives no
averages for his Sephardim, but they appear to include about eleven
per cent less pure long-headed types than even their Ashkenazim
brethren in London. This, it will be noted, is the exact opposite of
what might normally be expected. This tedious summary forces
us inevitably to the conclusion that, while a long-headed type of
Sephardim Jews may exist, the law is very far from being satisfac-
torily established.

Thus, from a study of our primary characteristic — the proportions
of the head — we find our modern Jews endowed with a relatively
much broader head than that of the average Englishman, for ex-
ample: while the best living representative of the Semitic race, the
Arab, has a head which is even longer and narrower than onr
own type. It is, in short, one of the longest known, being in
every way distinctly African. The only modern Jews who even
approach this type would seem to be those who actually reside to-
day in Africa, as in the case of our two portrait types from that re-
gion. Two possible explanations are open to us: either the great

THE RACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE. 343

body of the Jews in Europe to-day — certainly all the Ashkenazim,
who form upward of ninety per cent of the nation, and quite proba-
bly the Sephardim also, except possibly those in Africa — have de-
parted widely from the parental type in Palestine; or else the
original Semitic type was broad-headed, and, by inference, distinctly
Asiatic in derivation; in which case '"it is the modern Arab which
has deviated from its original pattern. Ikof is the only authority
who boldly faces this dilemma, and chooses the Asiatic hypothesis
with his eyes open.* Which, we leave it to the reader to decide,
would be the more likely to vary — the wandering Jew, ever driven
from place to place by constant persecution, and constantly exposed to
the vicissitudes of life in densely populated cities, the natural habitat
of the people, as we have said; or the equally nomadic Arab, who,
however, seems to be invariable in type, whether in Algeria, Mo-
rocco, the Canary Islands, or Arabia Felix iself? There can be
but one answer, it seems to us. The original Semitic stock must have
been in origin strongly dolichocephalic — that is to say, African as
the Arabs are to-day; from which it follows, naturally, that about
nine tenths of the living Jews are as widely different in head form
from the parent stock to-day as they well could be. The boasted
purity of descent of the Jews is, then, a myth. Renan (1883) is
right, after all, in his assertion that the ethnographic significance of
the word Jew, for the Russian and Danubian branch at least, long-
ago ceased to exist. Or, as Lombroso observes, the modern Jews are
physically more Aryan than Semitic, after all. They have uncon-
sciously taken on to a large extent the physical traits of the people
among whom their lot has been thrown. In Algiers they have re-
mained long-headed like their neighbors, for, even if they intermar-
ried, no tendency to deviation in head form would be provoked. If,
on the other hand, they settled in Piedmont, Austria, or Russia, with
their moderately round-headed populations, they became in time
assimilated to the type of these neighbors as well.

Nothing is simpler than to substantiate the argument of a con-
stant intercourse and intermixture of Jews with the Christians about
them all through history, from the original exodus of the forty thou-
sand (?) from Jerusalem after the destruction of the second temple.
At this time the Jewish nation as a political entity ceased to exist.
An important consideration to be borne in mind in this connection,
as Neubauer suggests very aptly, is that opposition to mixed mar-
riages was primarily a prejudice of religion and not of race. It was
dissipated on the conversion of the Gentile to Judaism. In fact, in
the early days of Judaism marriage with a nonbeliever was not in-

* Compare Brinton, 1890 a, p. 132, and 1890 b, for interesting linguistic data on the
Semites.

344

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Fekghanah. Turkestan.

Herault, France.

Elizabethgrad, Russia.

Elizabethgrad, Russia.

Jewish Types.

THE RACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE. 345

valid at all, as it afterward became, according to the Jewish code.
Thus Josephus, speaking of the Jews at Antioch, mentions that they
made many converts, receiving them into their community. An ex-
traordinary number of conversions to Judaism undoubtedly took
place during the second century after Christ. As to the extent of in-
termarriage which ensued during the middle ages discussion is still
rife. Renan, Neubauer, and others interpret the various rigid pro-
hibitions against intermarriage of Jews with Christians- — as, for ex-
ample, at the church councils of 538, 589, at Toledo, and of 743 at
Rome — to mean the prevalent danger of such practices becoming gen-
eral; while Jacobs, Andree, and others are inclined to place a lower
estimate upon their importance. Two wholesale conversions are
known to have taken place : the classical one of the Khozars, in South
Russia, during the reign of Charlemagne, and that of the Falashas,
who were neighboring Arab tribes in Yemen. Jacobs has ably
shown, however, the relatively slight importance of these. It is
probable that the greatest amount of infusion of Christian blood
must have taken place, in any event, not so much through such strik-
ing conversions, as insidiously through clandestine or irregular mar-
riages.

We find, for example, much prohibitive legislation against the
employment of Christian servants by Jews. This was directed
against the danger of conversion to Judaism, by the master, with con-
sequent intermarriage. It is not likely that these prohibitions were of
much avail, for, despite stringent laws in Hungary, for example,
we find the archbishop of that country reporting in 1229 that many
Jews were illegally living with Christian wives, and that conversions
by thousands were taking place. In any case, no protection for slaves
was ever afforded. The confinement of the Jews strictly to the
Ghettos during the later centuries would naturally discourage such
intermixture of blood, as also the increasing popular hatred between
Jew and Chrisian ; but, on the other hand, the greater degree of toler-
ance enjoyed by the Israelites even during this present century would
be competent speedily to produce great results. Jacobs has strenu-
ously, although perhaps somewhat inconclusively, argued in favor of
a substantial purity of the Jews by means of a number of other
data — such as, for example, by a study of the relative frequency
of Jewish names, by the supposed relative infecundity of mixed mar-
riages, and the like. Experience and the facts of everyday observa-
tion, on the other hand, tend to confirm us in the belief that racially
no purity of descent is to be supposed for an instant. Consider the
evidence of names, for example. We may admit a considerable
purity, perhaps, to the Cohns and Cohens, legitimate descendants of
the Cohanim, the sons of Aaron, early priests of the temple. Their

TOL. LIV. — 25

346 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

marital relations were safeguarded against infusion of foreign blood
in every possible way. The name is, perhaps, in its various forms, the
most frequent among Jews to-day. But how shall we account for
the equally pure Jewish names in origin, such as Davis, Harris,
Phillips, and Hart? How did they ever stray so far from their
original ethnic and religious significance, unless the marital bars were
lowered to a large degree? Some of them certainly claim a foremost
position numerically in our Christian English directories. We have
an interesting case of indefinite Jewish delimitation in our portraits.
The middle portrait at page 341 is certainly a Jewish type. Dr.
Bertholon writes me that all who saw it immediately asserted it to
be a Jew. Yet the man was a professed Mussulman, in fact, even
though his face was against him.

There is, as we have sought to prove, no single uniform type of
head peculiar to the Jewish people which may be regarded as in any
sense racially hereditary. Is this true also of the face? Our first
statement encounters no popular disapproval, for most of us never,
perhaps, happened to think of this head form as characteristic. But
the face, the features ! Is this another case of science running coun-
ter to popular belief?

The first characteristic to impress itself upon the layman is that the
Jew is generally a brunette. All scientific observers corroborate this
impression, agreeing in that the dark hair and eyes of this people really
constitute a distinct racial trait. About two thirds of the Ashkena-
zim branch in Galicia and Russia, where the general population is
relatively quite blond, is of the brunette type, this being especially
marked in the darker color of the hair. For example, Majer and
Kopernicki,* in Galicia, found dark hair to be about twice as fre-
quent as the light. Elkind,f in Warsaw, finds about three fifths of
the men dark. In Bosnia, Gliick's observations on the Sephardim
type gave him only two light-haired men out of fifty-five. In Germany
and Austria^; this brunette tendency is likewise strongly emphasized.
Pure brunette types are twice as frequent in the latter country, and
three times as frequent in Germany, among Jewish as among Chris-
tian school children. Pacts also seem to bear out the theory, to which
we have already alluded, that the Oriental Jews betray a slightly
greater blond tendency, thus inclining to rufous. In Germany also
the blond tendency becomes appreciably more frequent in Alsace-
Lorraine, a former center of gravity of the nation, as the map in our
previous article has shown. This comparative blondness of the Alsa-
tian Jew is not new, for in 1861 the origin of these same blondes was
matter of controversy. Broca believed them to be of northern deriva-

* 1877, pp. 88-90; 1885, p. 34. f Centralblatt fur Anthropologie, vol. iii, p. 66.
% Virchow, 1886 b, p. 364; Schimmer, 1884, p. xxiii.

THE RACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE. 347

tion, while Primer Bey traced them from a blondish Eastern source.
The English Jews seem also to be slightly lighter than their conti-
nental brethren, even despite their presumably greater proportion of
Sephardim, who are supposed to be peculiarly dark. As to the rela-
tive red blondness of the Oriental Jew, the early observations of Dr.
Beddoe, and those of Langerhans (1873) as to the blue eyes and red-
brown hair of the Druses of Lebanon, do not seem to be borne out;
or, as Jacobs puts it, the " argument may be dismissed with costs."
Certainly the living Semites are dark enough in type, and the evi-
dence of the sacred books bears out the same theory of an original
dark type. Thus " black " and " hair " are commonly synonymous
in the early Semitic languages. In any case, whatever the color
in the past, we have seen that science corroborates the popular im-
pression that the Jews as a people are distinctively of a brunette type.
This constitutes one of the principal traits by which they may be
almost invariably identified. It is not without interest to notice that
this brunetteness is more accentuated, oftentimes, among the women,
who are, the world over, persistent conservators of the primitive
physical characteristics of a people.*

Secondly, as to the nose. Popularly the humped or hook nose
constitutes the most distinctive feature of the Jewish face. Observa-
tions among the Jews, in their most populous centers, do not, how-
ever, bear out the theory. Thus Majer and Kopernicki (1885), in
their extended series, found only nine per cent of the hooked type —
no greater frequency than among the Poles; a fact which Weis-
senberg confirms as to the relative scarcity of the convex nose in
profile among his South Russian Jews. He agrees, however, that the
nose is often large, thick, and prominent. Weisbach (1877) meas-
ured the facial features of nineteen Jews, and found the largest noses
in a long series of people from all over the earth; exceeded in length,
in fact, by the Patagonians alone. The hooked nose is, indeed, some-
times frequent outside the Jewish people. Olechnowicz found, for
example, over a third of the noses of the gentry in southeast Poland
to be of this hooked variety. Running the eye over our carefully
chosen series of portraits, selected for us as typical from four quarters
of Europe — Algeria, Russia, Bosnia, and the confines of Asia — repre-
senting the African, Balkan Spagnuoli, and Russian Ashkenazim vari-
eties, visual impression will also confirm our deduction. The Jewish
nose is not so often truly convex in profile. Nevertheless, it must be
confessed that it gives a hooked impression. This seems to be due to
a peculiar " tucking up of the wings," as Dr. Beddoe expresses it.
Herein lies the real distinctive quality about it, rather than in any

* Weissenberg, 1895, p. 567, finds brunettes twice as frequent among the south Rus-
sian Jewesses as among the men.

Fig. 1. Fig. 2.

348 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

convexity of outline. In fact, it often renders a nose concave in
profile, immediately recognizable as Jewish. Jacobs * has ingen-
iously described this " nostrility," as he calls it, by the following
diagrams: Write, he says, a figure 6 with a long tail (Fig. 1); now

remove the turn of the twist,
and much of the Jewishness dis-
appears; and it vanishes en-
tirely when we draw the lower
continuation horizontally, as in
Fig. 3. Behold the transforma-
tion! The Jew has turned
Roman beyond a doubt. What have we proved, then? That there
is in reality such a phenomenon as a Jewish nose, even though it
be differently constituted from our first assumption. A moment's
inspection of our series of portraits will convince the skeptic that this
trait, next to the prevalent dark hair and eyes and the swarthy skin,
is the most distinctive among the chosen people.

Another characteristic of the Jewish physiognomy is the eyes.
The eyebrows, seemingly thick because of their darkness, appear to
be nearer together than usual, arching smoothly into the lines of the
nose. The lids are rather full, the eyes large, dark, and brilliant. A
general impression of heaviness is apt to be given. In favorable cases
this imparts a dreamy, melancholy, or thoughtful expression to the
countenance; in others it degenerates into a blinking, drowsy type;
or, again, Avith eyes half closed, it may suggest suppressed cunning.
The particular adjective to be applied to this expression varies greatly
according to the personal equation of the observer. Quite persistent
also is a fullness of the lips, often amounting in the lower one almost
to a pout. The chin in many cases is certainly rather pointed and
receding, Jacobs to the contrary notwithstanding. A feature of my
own observation, perhaps not fully justified, is a peculiar separation
of the teeth, which seem to stand well apart from one another. But
a truce to speculations. Entering into greater detail, the flat contra-
dictions of different observers show that they are vainly generalizing
from an all too narrow base of observations. Even the fancied dif-
ferences in feature between the two great branches of the Hebrew
people seem to us to be of doubtful existence. Our portraits do not
bear it out. It seems rather that the two descriptions of the Ashkena-
zim and Sephardim types which we have quoted denote rather the dis-
tinction between the faces of those of the upper and the lower classes.
Enough for us to know that there is a something Jewish in these
faces which we instantly detect. We recognize it in Eembrandt's
Hermitage, or in Munkaczy's Christ before Pilate. ISTot invariable

* 1886 a, p. xxxii.

THE RACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE. 349

are tliese traits. Not even to the Jew himself are they always a sure
criterion. Weissenberg gives an interesting example of this.* To a
friend, a Jew in Elizabethgrad, he submitted two hundred and fifty
photographs of Russian Jews and Christians in undistinctive costume.
Seventy per cent of the Jews were rightly chosen, while but ten per
cent of the Russians were wrongly classed as Jews. Of what concern
is it whether this characterization be entirely featural, or in part
a matter of expression ? The first would be a matter of direct hered-
ity, the second hypothesis partakes more of the nature of a charac-
teristic acquired from the social environment. Some one — Jacobs, I
think — speaks of it as the " expression of the Ghetto." It certainly
appears in the remarkable series of composite Jewish portraits pub-
lished in his monograph. It would not be surprising to find this true.
Continued hardship, persecution, a desperate struggle against an in-
exorable human environment as well as natural one, could not but
write its lines upon the face. The impression of a dreary past is deep
sunk in the bodily proportions, as we have seen. Why not in the
face as well?

We are now prepared, in conclusion, to deal with what is perhaps
the most interesting phase of our discussion. It is certainly, if true,
of profound sociological importance. We have in these pages spoken
at length of the head form — primary index of race; we have shown
that there are Jews and Jews in this respect. Yet which was the
real Jew it was not for us to decide, for the ninety-and-nine were
broad-headed, while the Semite in the East is still, as ever, a long-
headed member of the Africanoid races. This discouraged our hopes
of proving the existence of a Jewish cephalic type as the result of
purity of descent. It may indeed be affirmed with certainty that the
Jews are by hereditary descent from early times no purer than most
of their European neighbors. Then we discovered evidence that in
this head form the Jews were often closely akin to the people among
whom they lived. In long-headed Africa they were dolichocephalic.
In brachycephalic Piedmont, though supposedly of Sephardim de-
scent, they were quite like the Italians of Turin. And all over Slavic
Europe no distinction in head form between Jew and Christian ex-
isted. In the Caucasus also they approximate closely the cranial
characteristics of their neighbors. Hypnotic suggestion was not
needed to find a connection here, especially since all history bore us
out in our assumption of a large degree of intermixture of Gentile
blood. Close upon this disproval of purity of type by descent came
evidence of a distinct uniformity of facial type. Even so impartial
an observer as Weissenberg — certainly not prejudiced in favor of
cephalic invariability — confesses this featural unity.

* 1895, p. 563.

35© POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

How shall we solve this enigma of ethnic purity, and yet impurity,
of type ? In this very apparent contradiction lies the grain of comfort
for our sociological hypothesis. The Jew is radically mixed in the
line of racial descent; he is, on the other hand, the legitimate heir
to all Judaism as a matter of choice. It is for us a case of purely
artificial selection, operative as ever only in those physical traits
which appeal to the senses. It is precisely analogous to our example
of the Basques in France and Spain. What we have said of them will
apply with equal force here. Both Jews and Basques possessed in
a high degree a " consciousness of kind "; they were keenly sensible
of their social individuality. The Basques primarily owed theirs to
geographical isolation and a peculiar language; that of the Jews was
derived from the circumstances of social isolation, dependent upon
the dictates of religion. Another case in point occurs to us in this
connection. Chantre,* in a recent notable work, has shown the re-
markable uniformity in physical type among the Armenians. They
are so peculiar in head form that we in America recognize them at
once by their foreshortened and sugar-loaf skulls, almost devoid of
occiput. They too, like the Jews, have long been socially isolated in
their religion. Thus in all these cases, Basques, Armenians, and
Jews, we have a potent selective force at work. So far as in their
power lay, the individuality of all these people was encouraged and
perpetuated as one of their dearest possessions. It affected every de-
tail of their lives. Why should it not also react upon their ideal of
physical beauty? and why not influence their sexual preferences, as
well as to determine their choice in marriage? Its results became
thus accentuated through heredity. But all this would be accom-
plished, be it especially noted, only in so far as the physical traits
were consciously or unconsciously impressed upon them by the facts
of observation. There arises at once the difference between artificial
selection in the matter of the head form and that concerning the facial
features. One is an unsuspected possession of individuality, the
other is matter of common notice and, it may be, of report. What
Jew or Christian, till he became anthropologist, ever stopped to con-
sider the shape of his head, any more than the addition of a number
of cubits to his stature? Who has not, on the other hand, early
acquired a distinct concept of a Jewish face and of a distinctly Jew-
ish type? Could such a potent fact escape observation for a moment?

We are confirmed in our belief in the potency of an artificial se-
lection, such as we have described, to perpetuate or to evolve a Jewish
facial type by reason of another observation. The women among
the Jews, as Jacobs f notes, in confirmation of our own belief, be-

* Recherches anthropologiques dans l'Asie Occidentale (Archives du Museum d'histoire
naturelle, Lyons, vol. vi, 1895). f 1886 a, p. xxviii.

THE RACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE. 351

tray far more constantly than the men the outward characteristics
peculiar to the people. We have already cited Weissenberg's testi-
mony that brunetteness is twice as prevalent among Russian Jewesses
as among the men. Of course this may be a matter of anabolism,
pure and simple. This would be perhaps a competent explanation of
the phenomenon for physiologists like Geddes and Thompson. For
us this other cause may be more directly responsible. Artificial
selection in a social group, wherein the active choice of mates falls
to the share of the male, would seem to tend in the direction of an
accentuated type in that more passive sex on which the selective
influence directly plays. At all events, observations from widely
scattered sources verify the law that the facial individuality of a
people is more often than otherwise expressed most clearly in the
women. Thus, for example, the women betray the Mongol type
more constantly than the men among the Asiatic tribes of eastern
Russia.* On the other hand, Mainof, best of authority, confirms
the same tendency among those of Finnic descent, f The Setti
Communi in northern Italy still preserve their German language as
evidence of a historic Teutonic descent. They seem to have lost
their identity entirely in respect of the head form,^: but Ranke *
states that among the women the German facial type constantly re-
appears. This, I confess, is not altogether easy to understand, unless
the Lombards, of whom these colonies are supposedly the remnants,
brought their native women with them across the Alps. Perhaps,
however, not bringing their women, a new Teutonic resemblance
has been evolved out of whole cloth. A better example than this is
offered among the Hamitic peoples of Africa north of the Sahara.
These peoples, from Abyssinia to Morocco, really belong to the white
races of Europe. Among nearly all their tribes the negroid traits
are far more accentuated among the women, according to Sergi. 1 1
It is not necessary to cite more specific testimony. The law occupies
a respected place among anthropologists. That the Jews confirm it,
would seem to strengthen our hypothesis at every point.

Our final conclusion, then, is this: It is paradoxical, yet true, we
affirm. The Jews are not a race, but only a people, after all. In
their faces we read its confirmation, while in respect of their other
traits we are convinced that such individuality as they possess — by no
means inconsiderable — is of their own making from one generation
to the next, rather than as a product of an unprecedented purity of
physical descent.

* Sommier, 1887, reprint, p. 116. Cf. Zograf, 1896, p. 50, on crania from the sixteenth
century in Moscow. f Congres int. des sciences geographiques, Paris, 1875, p. 268.

\ Livi, 1896 a, pp. 137 and 146. # Beitrage zur Anth. Bayerns, vol. ii, 1879, p. 75.

| Africa, Antropologia della stirpe Camitica, Torino, 1897, p. 263.

352 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

TRUE TALES OF BIRDS AND BEASTS.

By DAVID STARR JORDAN.
I.— SENOR ALCATRAZ.

HE was just a bird when he was born, and a very ugly bird at
that. For he had big splay feet, with all the toes turned
forward and joined together in one broad web, and his wings were
thick and clumsy, and underneath his long bill there was a big red
sack that he could fill with fishes, and when it was full he could
hardly walk or fly, so large the sack was and so great was his appetite.

But he kept the sack well filled and he emptied it out every day
into his stomach, and so he grew very soon to be a large bird, as
big as a turkey, though not as fat, and each day uglier than ever.

But one morning, when he was walking out on the sand flat of
the Astillero at Mazatlan, Mexico, where he lived, he saw a big fish
which had been left by the falling tide in a little pool of water. It
was a blue-colored fish with a big bony head, and no scales, and a
sleek, slippery skin. lie did not know that it was a bag re, but he
thought that all fishes were good to eat, so he opened his mouth and
slipped the fish, tail first, down into his pouch. It went all right
for a while, but when the fish woke up and knew he was being swal-
lowed, he straightened out both of his arms, and there he was. For
the bagre is a kind of catfish, and each arm is a long, stiff, sharp bone,
or spine, with a saw edge the whole length of it. And all the bagre
has to do is just to put this arm out straight and twist it at the shoul-
der and then it is set, and no animal can bend or break it. And it
pierced right through the skin of the bird's sack, and the bird could
not swallow it, nor make it go up nor down, and the bagre held on
tight, for he knew that if he let go once he would be swallowed, and
that would be the last of him.

So the bird tried everything he could think of, and the fish
held on, and they kept it up all day. In the afternoon a little boy
came out on the sands. His name was Inocente, and he was the
son of Ygnacio, the fisherman of Mazatlan. And Inocente took a
club of mangrove and ran up to the struggling bird and struck it
on the wing with the club. The blow broke the wing, and the bird
lay clown to die, for with a broken wing and a fish that would not
go up nor down, there was no hope for him.

"When Inocente saw what kind of a fish it was, he knew just what
to do. He reached down into the bird's sack and took hold of the
fish's spines. He gave each one a twist so that it rolled over in its
socket, the upper part toward the fish's head, and then they were not

TRUE TALES OF BIRDS AND BEASTS. 353

stiff any more, but lay flat against the side of the fish, just as they
ought to lie. Then the fish knew that it had found a master, and lav
perfectly still. So the bird gave a great gulp, and out the bagre went
on the sand, and when the tide came up it swam away, and took
care never to go again where a bird could get hold of it. And the
bird with the broken wing had learned something about fishes, too.
But he could not fly away, so he waited to see what the boy was going
to do.

The boy took the bird into his boat and brought him home. And
old Ygnacio put a splint on his wing and covered it with salve, and
by and by it healed. But the bone was set crooked, and the bird
could not fly very well. So the boys called the bird Sehor Alcatraz,
which is the Spanish for Mr. Pelican, and Sehor Alcatraz and all
the boys and dogs and goats became good friends, and all ran about
on the streets together. And when the boys would shout and
the dogs bark, all Sehor Alcatraz could do was to squawk and
hiss and open his big mouth and show the inside of his red
fish sack.

And when the boys would go fishing on the wharf, Alcatraz
would go, too, and he would stow away the fishes in his pouch as
fast as the boys could catch them. But if they caught a bagre fish,
he would turn his head the other way and then run away home just
as fast as his splay feet would take him.

And when the men drew the net on the beach Alcatraz would
splash around inside the net, catching whatever he could, and hav-
ing a great deal of fun in his clumsy pelican fashion. Then he
would run along the street with the boys, squawking and flapping his
wings and thinking that he was just like the rest of them. And if you
ever go to Mazatlan, ask for Dr. Rogers, and he will show you the
way to Ygnacio's cabin on the street they call Libertad. And there in
the front yard, in a general scramble of dogs, goats, and little In-
dian boys, you will see Sehor Alcatraz romping and squabbling like
the best of them. And you will know which he is by the broken
wing and the red sack under his throat. But if you say " Bagre " to
him, he will run under the doorstep and hide his face till you go
away. . ,

II— THE LITTLE BLUE FOX.

Once there was a little blue fox, and his name was Eichkao, and
he was a thief. So he built his house down deep among the rocks
under the moss on the Mist Island, and his little fox children used to
stay down among the rocks. There they would gurgle, gurgle,
gurgle, whenever they heard anybody walking over their heads.
Eichkao and his fox wife used to run all round over the rocks to

354 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

find something for them to eat, and whenever Eichkao saw anybody
coming he would go clin-n-n-g, cling-g-g, and his voice was high and
sharp, just like the voice of a buzz saw.

One day he walked out on the rocks over the water and began
to talk to the black sea parrot, whose name is Epatka, and who sits
erect on his carelessly built nest with one egg in it, and wears a great
big bill made of red sealing wax. He has a long white quill pen
stuck over each ear, and over his face is a white mask, so that nobody
can know what kind of a face he has, and all you can see behind the
mask is a pair of little foolish twinkling white glass eyes. What the
two said to each other I don't know, but they did not talk very long,
for in a few minutes when I came back to his house among the rocks
Eichkao was gone, and there lay out on the bank a bill made of
red sealing wax, a white mask, and two little white quill pens. There
were a few bones and claws and some feathers, but they did not seem
to belong to anything in particular, and the little foxes in the rocks
went gurgle, gurgle, gurgle.

One day I lay down on the moss out by the old fox walk on the
Mist Island, and Eichkao saw me there and thought I was some new
kind of walrus which might be good to eat, and would feed all the
little foxes for a month. So he ran around me in a circle, and then
he ran around again, then again and again, always making the circle
smaller, until finally the circle was so narrow that I could reach him
with my hand. As he went around and around, all the time he
looked at me with his cold, gray, selfish eye, and not one of all the
beasts has an eye as cruel-cold as his. When he thought that he was
near enough, he gave a snap with his jaws, and tried to bite out a mor-
sel to take home to the little foxes; but all I offered him was a
piece of rubber boot. And when I turned around to look at him he
was running away as fast as he could, calling klin-n-g-g, klin-n-g,
klin-n-g, like a scared buzz saw all the time as he went out of sight.
And I think that he is running yet, while the little foxes still go
gurgle, gurgle under the rocks.

III.— HOW THE RED FOX WENT HUNTING.
{With acknowledgment to Mr. A. C. Bassett, of Menlo Park, California.)

Once on a time there was a great tall rabbit, the kind the miners
call a " narrow-gauge mule " ; but he was not a mule at all, and
his real name was " Jack Rabbit." His home was in Montana, and
he lived by the river they call the Silver Bow. He could run faster
than any of the other beasts, and he went lickety-clip, lickety-clip,
bounding over the tops of the sagebrush, for he had no brush of his
own to carry.

TRUE TALES OF BIRDS AND BEASTS. 355

And there was a red fox who lived on the Silver Bow, too, and
he went hunting because he wanted rabbit for dinner. But while
he could run very fast he could not bound over the tops of the
sagebrush, for his own brush, which he always carried with him
because he was so proud of it, would catch on the thorns of the other
kinds of brush and so would keep him back.

So he sent for his cousin, the coyote, to come and help him.
Now, the coyote lived out in the country by Emigrant Mountain.
He was not proud at all, for he hadn't much of a brush, and nobody
flattered him for his beauty. But for all that the coyote could run
very fast, as he had Indian blood in him. The only trouble was that
his hind feet ran faster than his fore feet. So he had to stop every
little while and run sidewise to unkink himself and give his fore feet
a chance to catch up.

When the coyote came up the rabbit was bounding along through
the bushes, going around in a great circle so that he always came back
to the same place, for that is the way of the rabbit-folk. So the
fox lay low and hid his brush in the sage, and the coyote followed
the rabbit around the circle. And he just kept up with the rabbit
all the way, for the rabbit wasn't scared, and didn't run very fast.
And when they had gone once around the circle the rabbit passed the
hidden fox. Then the fox got up and chased him, and was only a
few feet behind. And the coyote stopped and ran sidewise for a
while to unkink himself, and then he lay down in the bushes
and waited for the rabbit to come back. The rabbit was much
scared when he saw the fox close behind him, so he ran and
bounded very fast, and the fox kept falling behind because he
had his long brush to carry. But he kept at it just the same, and
when the rabbit came around the circle to where he started there was
the coyote waiting for him. The rabbit had to make a great jump
to get over the coyote's head. Then they went around again and the
coyote kept close behind all the way, and the rabbit began to get
tired. "When the coyote's hind legs got tangled up then the fox was
rested, and he took up the chase; and so they kept on, each one
taking his turn, except the rabbit, who had to keep his own turn all
the time.

When the race was over there was nobody there to see how they
divided up what they caught. But I saw the coyote the next day,
and he looked so very empty that I think that the red fox must have
taken all the rabbit meat for himself. Most likely he left his cousin
just the ears for his part, with a rabbit's foot to carry in his pocket for
good luck.

356 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

GLACIAL GEOLOGY IN AMEKICA.

By Peof. DANIEL S. MAKTIN.

UNDER this title the vice-president of Section E (Geology) of
the American Association — Prof. Herman L. Fairchild, of
the University of Rochester, New York — gave an admirable resume
of the whole history, progress, and scope of the study of ice phe-
nomena in North America, as the opening address before the section
at the recent Boston meeting. Apart from the interest of the subject
in itself considered, this address was a model of what such addresses
should be. While strictly scientific, without the least attempt at
rhetorical effect, it was at the same time so clear, so well arranged
and so simple in language, that any intelligent auditor could enjoy
it and grasp it, and carry away a distinct impression of the gradual
development and present status of this great department of geo-
logical study. Professor Eairchild's choice of his subject was happy
also in its fitness to the occasion, as covering almost exactly the half
century of the life of the association, though going back indeed a
few years further, into the period of the earlier society which de-
veloped into the association in 1848.

The great body of phenomena comprised under the term " drift,"
and the smoothed and scratched surfaces of rock, etc., had been by
no means unnoticed by the early students of American geology, but
they were attributed to violent and widespread water action, and
were spoken of in general as " diluvial " formations. "When the
agency of ice began to be recognized, it was regarded as that of
floating and stranding bergs; and this view for a long time contended
with the theory of glacial action, even when the latter had been
adopted and advocated by eminent students of the subject.

The first allusion to drifting ice as the agent of transportation
of bowlders, etc., appears to have been made as early as 1825, by one
Peter Dobson, of Connecticut, in a letter to Prof. Benjamin Silli-
man, of Yale College. Sir Roderick Murchison, who became the
great champion of this view, credits Mr. Dobson's letter with giving
him the first suggestion of it. Twelve years later, in 1837, T. A.
Conrad made the earliest reference to land ice as the cause of our
drift phenomena; he does this in very striking words when read in
the light of the studies and determinations of later years, although of
course imperfectly and vaguely.

Meanwhile, however, Agassiz and others had been working
among the glaciers of the Alps, and their views as to a great period
of former extension, in Europe and the British Isles, were finding
some acceptance abroad. In this country, Prof. Edward Hitchcock,

GLACIAL GEOLOGY IN AMERICA. 357

in his address as retiring president of the Association of American
Geologists, in 1841, gave a broad and careful review of the drift
phenomena in eastern North America, and referred to the work of
Agassiz, Buckland, and Lyell with great interest, as having given
him " a new geological sense " in observing these phenomena, and
said, with prophetic foresight, " Henceforth, glacial action must
form an important chapter in geology."

But the time was not ripe for the understanding and acceptance
of the glacial theory as a later generation has come to know it.
The studies of Agassiz and his confreres had been among glaciers
upon mountain slopes, and hence, while many of the drift phenomena
were strikingly accounted for, others were not and could not be. So
it came to pass that, while Professor Hitchcock and others in this
country were strongly impressed, they were not satisfied, and held
for years an uncertain position. The glacial indications conformed
in some aspects to the theory, but not in others; the striae and
groovings, instead of following valleys, all had a general trend to the
southward, and the bowlders were carried across great depressions
and deposited upon heights. How could these conditions be due to
glaciers? Could ice flow uphill, or move long distances over level
areas? These and other phenomena, such as the peculiar distribution
of drift material, in " drumlin " ridges and the like, had no ex-
planation. Hence, notwithstanding President Hitchcock's utter-
ances above quoted, and his similar Postscript on the subject of
drift and moraines, appended in the same year to his volume on the
Geology of Massachusetts, we find him in 1843, when again address-
ing the Association of Geologists, adopting a modified tone, dwelling
upon these points of difficulty, and seeking a compromise view, which
he called " glacio-aqueous." The great influence also of Murchison
and Lyell had been thrown into the scale in favor of the iceberg
theory, and this fact doubtless had much to do with the slow develop-
ment of true conceptions. Lyell visited America in 1842, and was
present at the American Geologists' meeting, advocating the floating-
ice doctrine, to which most of our observers already leaned; and
so the views of Agassiz and the glacial school had to wait for a decade
before they found general acceptance or even audience.

This, we may note in passing, Is but one marked instance out of
many in the history of science, wherein the personal influence of
eminent leaders has obstructed and retarded the advance of true
knowledge. The whole recognition of the Cambrian system, as pre-
Silurian and distinct, was suppressed and prevented for many years
by Murchison's intense opposition to the views of Sedgwick. Simi-
lar facts might be cited in this country, did we care to mention names.
Science can not claim, as is sometimes asserted, that it possesses or

358 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

imparts any entire exemption from the influence of authority, and
bestows complete independence from the tendency to " swear to the
words of a master."

Of the New York geologists, Vanuxem alone, in his Geology of
the Third District, 1842, inclined to the glacial theory; the others —
Emmons, Mather, and Hall — advocated floating ice, the latter urg-
ing as a chief objection the absence of any great northern highlands
from which glaciers could extend southward. Prof. Henry D.
Rogers advocated De la Beche's view, of great catastrophic waves or
debacles of water and ice, produced by sudden uplifts of the floor of
a circumpolar ocean, and sweeping southward with tremendous power
over the middle latitudes. These views were presented by him in
1844, at the "Washington meeting of the geologists, and are to us a
most curious illustration of the old " cataclysmic " phase of geological
conceptions.

Two years later Agassiz came to America, and at once set about
studying the ice evidences here, first in the White Mountains and
then around the Great Lakes. At the first meeting of the American
Association, in 1848, he presented his views as to the identity of our
phenomena with those studied by himself, Desor, and Guyot abroad.
His views were not very warmly received, however, and he did not
attempt their public presentation again for some years, turning his
attention more to the field of zoology. In 1850, in a work on Lake
Superior, he refers somewhat sharply to the prejudice that seemed
to prevail in relation to this subject.

From this time, however, the aqueous theories began to be less
strongly presented; and a new generation of geologists was coming
on, largely under the training of Guyot and Agassiz, and more open
to their observed results. C. B. Adams, in 1850, presented a view
nearly akin to that adopted by Dana a few years later, of an eleva-
tion of the high northern latitudes, resulting in a southward-moving
glacial sheet, and a subsequent depression connected with its retreat,
to account for the stratified deposits. Professor Dana accepted this
doctrine in his presidential address before the association in 1855,
adding the " Terrace period " of partial re-elevation. Prom this
time he became the leader of the American glacialists, and his great
Manual, issued in 1862, carried these views into all the colleges of
the country.

In 1857 Prof. Edward Hitchcock published an important treatise
on Surface Geology, particularly of the Connecticut Valley, in the
Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. In this paper he noted
the distinction, so important and now so familiar, between local striae
and those with the general southward course of the " drift." Two
years later his son, Prof. C. H. Hitchcock, extended this distinction

GLACIAL GEOLOGY IN AMERICA. 359

widely over New England. In 1863 the report of progress of the
Geological Survey of Canada gave an extended review of the sur-
face geology, by Prof. Robert Bell, in which he fully adopted the
glacial theory. Meantime, also, Professor Ramsay, in England, had
abandoned the iceberg doctrine for that of glaciers.

In 1866 and 1867 important papers appeared by Charles Whit-
tlesey, and one by Edward Hungerford; this last, read before
the association, adopted the general views of Agassiz, with
some important limitations now generally received. In the same
year the revised edition of Dana's Manual gave yet fuller state-
ment and wider diffusion to the generally accepted views as held
to-day.

Professor Eairchild sums up this historical sketch as comprising
four periods — viz., prior to 1841, undisputed reign of diluvial hy-
potheses; 1841 to 1848, suggestion and discussion of glacial hypoth-
eses; 1849 to 1866, gradual acceptance of the latter view; from 1867
onward, development of glacial geology.

Erom this point, the address was occupied with consideration of
the various aspects of the subject as studied and wrought out during
the past twenty years by numerous observers. These are grouped
under four main heads, each with various subdivisions — viz., (1) the
ice sheet, as to its area, its thickness, its centers of dispersion, its
migration of centers, etc.; (2) the ice period, as to its cause, its
divisions, its duration, its distance in time; (3) the interpretation of
special phenomena, such as moraines, drumlins, eskers, " kettles,"
and the like, valley drift, terraces, loess, etc. ; and (4) existing gla-
ciers, as discovered on our high mountains of the far West, and as
studied in closer relation to the ancient phenomena in the great
ice cap of Greenland and the immense glacier development in
Alaska.

It is impossible to go into a detailed review of the numerous
points of interest covered in this discussion. Suffice it to say that
one who heard or who reads it finds an admirably clear and con-
densed account of all the problems and phenomena that have been
and that are now encountered in the study of glacial geology on this
continent, and of their gradual interpretation and solution by the
combined labors of many students. The progress of knowledge over
this wide field, advancing step by step, amid conflicting views and
perplexing conditions, is beautifully shown, and leaves a very strik-
ing impression on the mind, of the difficulties and the successes of
scientific research. Nor is Professor Fairchild disposed to claim too
much or assert too strongly. He recognizes that, with all that has
been met and mastered, there are still questions unsolved, and laurels
to be won by others.

360 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Among the facts brought out, a few may be briefly alluded to.
The early abandonment of Agassiz's original view of a vast exten-
sion of the polar snow caps, and the recognition of separate centers
of continental glaciation, now distinctly determined as three in num-
ber — a western, a central, and an eastern — the former being the
earliest, and the others following in succession; the recognition by
the Western geologists of the twofold character of the Glacial epoch,
as also determined in western Europe, but less markedly traceable in
our Eastern States, though now generally admitted; in close rela-
tion to this the determination of the line of the great terminal mo-
raine, traced by successive observers from the Atlantic seaboard to
Minnesota, and the subsequent recognition of an older, eroded, and
fragmentary morainal " fringe," marking the line of the earlier ice
sheet, somewhat beyond the later. With regard to the actual dis-
tance of the last glacial retreat, as expressed in years, Professor Eair-
child is both cautious and frank. He notes the general consensus of
recent observers toward a much shorter period than was formerly
supposed — from five to ten or perhaps fifteen thousand years. At
the same time, there are many elements of uncertainty involved, and
the problem is by no means settled. The Niagara gorge, so long
looked upon as a possible chronometer, grows more complicated as
it is further studied; the rate of erosion has evidently varied much
with the volume of water carried by the river; and this, in turn, has
varied with the changes of level, and consequently of drainage routes,
in the basin of the Great Lakes. There have been times when only
the Erie waters flowed through the Niagara outlet, the upper lake
drainage passing eastward independently, until a gradual northern
rise of the land, which is proved to be still going on, turned the entire
drainage into the present St. Clair route from Lake Huron into Lake
Erie, and so through Niagara.

This point leads us to digress for a moment from the address under
consideration to allude to a very interesting department of study
that is now growing into prominence — to wit, the restoration of
pre-glacial geography and hydrography, and the genesis of our ex-
isting river and lake systems throughout the northern part of the
country. The discussions and results in regard to Niagara and the
Great Lakes are somewhat familiar, but the work on the rivers and
smaller lakes is not so widely known. Professor Fairchild himself
has done much in relation to the " central lakes " of New York State ;
and one very interesting paper of this kind on The Development of
the Ohio River was read before the section by Prof. William G.
Light, of Granville, Ohio, besides many papers by others on similar
topics.

The work done within a few years upon the glaciers of Arctic

GLACIAL GEOLOGY IN AMERICA. 561

America has proved peculiarly fruitful in results. Here, again, the
whole subject is reviewed historically, and the name and work of each
observer are impartially noted. Much of the difficulty encountered
by the glacial theory arose, as we have seen, from the fact that only
mountain glaciers had been studied, so that many of the phenomena
produced by continental ice could not be explained. Professor Fair-
child says, as to this aspect : " More has been learned of the structure,
behavior, and work of our ancient ice sheets by the study of the
Alaskan glaciers during the last ten years, and especially by the study
of the Greenland ice cap during the last four years, than by all the
study of the Alpine glaciers for the seventy years since they have
been observed." Prominent among those who have worked in this
field are the names of Professors Chamberlain and Salisbury in
Greenland, and Professors H. F. Reid and I. C. Russell in Alaska;
other important contributors are Prof. W. P. Blake, the pioneer
geologist in Alaska, 1867; Dall and Baker, who discovered and
named the Malaspina Glacier in 1874; and John Muir, 1878, for
whom the Muir Glacier was named; Wright, Baldwin, Schwatka,
Libbey, and others, and Barton and Tarr in Greenland.

Professor Russell, in 1891, recognized and named a type of
glacier that was before unknown. In his studies on the Malaspina
he found a condition that does not occur, so far as yet observed, any-
where else than on the northwest coast of America; this is where a
number of mountain glaciers debouch upon a low, flat coast plain,
and unite to form a great sluggishly moving sheet of ice. This par-
ticular development he called the Piedmont type.

In closing his address, Professor Fairchild remarks that the word
" theory," as applied to the glacial origin of the drift and its phe-
nomena, may and should now be abandoned. The subject has
passed beyond the stage of theory, and is as well understood and as
clearly established as the volcanic origin of the cone of Vesuvius or
the sedimentary origin of stratified rocks.

In the center of the artificial platforms or platform mounds, character-
istic of many of the ancient Peruvian towns. Mr. Bandelier has observed
features that recall forcibly the New" Mexican Indian custom of giving to
each inanimate object its heart. In some instances, says Mr. F. W. Hodge,
in his paper, round columns formed a kind of an interior niche ; in others,
a small chamber contaiued urns or jars with maize meal. A remarkable
and very significant feature was observed by the explorer in a partly ruined
mound at Ohanchan. The core of this structure when opened showed two
well-preserved altars of adobe. In such interior apartments, figurines of
metal, clay, or wood are almost invariably found ; and the materially val-
uable finds made in Peruvian ruins in earlier times came from the " heart '"
of one or the other of the artificial elevations described.

VOL. LIT. 26

362 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

MODERN STUDIES OF EARTHQUAKES.

Br GEORG GERALAND.

nnHE investigation of earthquakes, seismology, has become in the
-L- present day an independent subject of scientific interest. In
lands where earthquakes are frequent, as in Italy and Japan, seismic
observations have been officially systematized over the whole country,
with central and branch stations at which the work is never still. A
net of seismic observations of all nations is being more and more
closely woven over the whole earth, and there are yearly and monthly
collations of observations of even the slightest shocks. Seismic
literature is, therefore, nearly inexhaustible, and theory and praxis
are in constant vogue; in short, seismics has grown to be a separate
branch of science, and to demand independent treatment, calling for
the energy and labor of many students. What gives it so great im-
portance? What is the condition of our present knowledge and its
history? What will be reached in the future through the competi-
tion of the nations? These questions possess a high scientific as well
as culture-historical interest. We here attempt to answer them.

The first really scientific description of an earthquake — that of
Lisbon — with its far-reaching accompanying phenomena, was the
work of the greatest contemporary thinker, Kant, and it is not too
much to say that his paper opened a new epoch in the knowledge of
earthquakes. That terrible event and the extreme terror which it
caused everywhere were followed in 1783 by the likewise extremely
destructive earthquake of Calabria. The attention of the people was
thus directed to this mysterious mighty activity of the earth, and was
kept especially lively in Italy, the country of Europe most subject
to earthquakes. The newly rising science of geology therefore found
in the last third of the last century in these phenomena a problem
of prominent importance. Geologists were the first to apply them-
selves to seismic studies, as the most widely current explanation of
the phenomena is still a geological one. The scientific interest of the
question prevailed over the practical. More attentive observation
was given to earthquakes, the accounts of them scattered through the
ancient chronicles were collated, and the already very numerous
seismic notes of great earthquake manifestations — such as those by
Hoff, Perry, Mallet, Volger, Fuchs, etc. — constituted a very im-
portant factor in the study. One of the earliest results of the inquiry
was to show that directly perceptible earthquakes are not perceptible
everywhere; that they are most common on the great upfoldings of
the earth's crust on the mountain chains, such as the Andes, Alps,
and Himalayas; and that, further, they are connected with the shores

MODERN STUDIES OF EARTHQUAKES. 363

of the Pacific, the Antilles, and the Mediterranean, and with places
also where great breaches and various disturbances are evident; that
they are at home likewise in volcanoes; and that they are most fre-
quent in the northern hemisphere, and when the earth is nearest to
the sun. The descriptions of powerful shocks furnish us evidence
of a double movement of the earth's crust — an alternate up-and-
down vibration and an often very marked wave motion. The de-
struction which earthquake shocks and waves inflict on buildings, and
the remarkably rapid and wide spread of the tremblings over the
surface of the earth, have been very diligently inquired into; and
when, in 1856, Naples and Calabria were visited by a great earth-
quake, an English investigator, Robert Mallet, made a full study of
it, and believed that by comparing the direction of the rents in walls
and buildings, which were assumed to correspond with that of the
tremblings, he could identify the focus of the shocks in the e