*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 46383 ***

  Established by Edward L. Youmans

              APPLETONS'
           POPULAR SCIENCE
               MONTHLY

              EDITED BY
         WILLIAM JAY YOUMANS

              VOL. LV

        MAY TO OCTOBER, 1899

              NEW YORK
       D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
                1899




          COPYRIGHT, 1899,
     BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.




[Illustration: EDUARD OSCAR SCHMIDT.]




APPLETONS' POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

SEPTEMBER, 1899.




ARE WE IN DANGER FROM THE PLAGUE?

BY VICTOR C. VAUGHAN,

PROFESSOR OF HYGIENE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN.


In an article on the plague in this journal, in May, 1897, the writer
answered this question as follows: "Yes, there is danger; but this,
being foreseen, may be easily avoided. Thorough inspection of persons
and disinfection of things from infected districts will keep the
disease out of Europe and America. Only by the most gross carelessness
could the plague be permitted to enter either of these continents."

It will be of interest to take up this subject again, and study it in
the light of the history of the plague since the article referred to
was written. The plague first appeared in western India, at Bombay,
where it still prevails. We are without any exact information
concerning its introduction into that city. Before the outbreak of the
disease at Bombay the mortality had increased so markedly that it was
a subject of discussion for three meetings of the Grant Medical
Society. The increase was attributed to the filthy condition of the
streets. This society made an investigation of the increased
mortality, and presented a report on the same to the municipal
authorities. Instead of heeding the warning, the authorities jeered at
the society, and refused to allow the report to be read.

Dr. Viegas appears to have been the first physician to recognize the
existence of the plague in the city. In a paper read before the Grant
Medical Society on November 24, 1896, he discussed the possible and
probable avenues by which the disease had found its way into the town.
He stated that sugar and dates had been mentioned as means by which
the plague was imported, but, if this had been the case, he thought it
strange that the infection had not been conveyed from Bagdad and
Bassorah, inasmuch as these articles come almost exclusively from
those places. Again, it was thought possible that the clothes of the
sick or of the dead from the plague in China might have been brought
over to Bombay, but Dr. Viegas was unable to find any evidence in
support of this theory. It had also been claimed that rats sick with
the plague had come by ship from Hong Kong, and had infected the rats
about the docks in Bombay. This theory, Dr. Viegas held, was not
supported by any facts. In short, Dr. Viegas found some objection to
every theory that had been proposed, and leaves us in doubt as to his
own views concerning the avenue by which the plague reached Bombay. He
is quite confident, however, that the filthiness of the city is to
blame for the rapidity with which the disease spread.

In a report by Lieutenant-Colonel Weir on the plague in Bombay a
statement is made that the disease was imported from Suez. Early in
September, 1896, four very suspicious deaths were reported, but, as
none of these had been attended by medical men, no definite conclusion
could be reached concerning them. The first case was reported by Dr.
Viegas late in September, 1896. The patient was a native who had not
been out of the city for months. The first case reported among
Europeans occurred on November 12, 1896. During the winter of 1896 and
1897 the disease prevailed most alarmingly, and reached its highest
mortality during the week ending February 9, 1897, when the deaths
from all causes in Bombay numbered 1,891. During the summer of 1897
the disease declined, and led to the belief that the measures that had
been put in operation would prove successful. This hope, however, was
not realized, and during the winter of 1897 and 1898 there was a
recrudescence of the disease. During the summer of 1898 the disease
again abated, to appear with renewed strength during the winter of
1898 and 1899. During the last week in March, 1899, the total number
of deaths from all causes in Bombay reached 2,408, and the deaths from
plague alone numbered more than 250 a day. It will be seen from these
figures that the plague still rages with undiminished virulence in the
capital of western British India. The abatement of the disease during
the summer months and its increased severity during the colder season
are not directly due to the effects of temperature. In the warm season
many of the natives sleep out of doors, while during the colder
weather they crowd into small, unventilated, filthy rooms. It is the
opinion of practically all observers at Bombay that the recrudescence
of the disease during the winter is due to this overcrowding.

Since the plague has prevailed at Bombay for nearly three years, it
may be well to inquire concerning its probable continuance at that
place. In making this inquiry we may learn something of the sanitary
condition of the city and the habits of its inhabitants. Bombay is the
metropolis of western India, and is situated on a long, narrow island
running almost north and south. The city is located near the southern
end of this island, with its harbor to the east and its sewage outfall
to the west. Its population of about nine hundred thousand is a very
mixed one, consisting of Hindoos of different castes, of Mohammedans,
of Eurasians, and of Europeans. Differences in race, in religion, and
in caste make it exceedingly difficult to carry out sanitary measures
and to look after the sick. The mean temperature is about 79° F., and
the relative humidity seventy-seven per cent. A considerable portion
of the island is below high-water level, and consequently the sewage
must be removed by means of pumps. The mean maximum temperature of the
ground eleven feet below the surface is 84.9° F., and the mean minimum
temperature is 80.9° F. It will be seen from these figures that
organic matter must undergo rapid decomposition both on the surface
and in the sewers. The water supply, which is said to be excellent, is
so carelessly drawn upon by the natives that, although sufficiently
abundant if used properly, it sometimes becomes scant. It not
infrequently happens that the sewers will not carry the volume of
water turned into them. For this reason, together with the tropical
rains, the soil often becomes water-logged. Indeed, the surface in
some sections of the city may be, not inappropriately, compared with a
fermenting muck-heap. Besides the fixed population, there is a
constant current of people flowing to and fro between the island and
the mainland. When there is any opportunity for the employment of a
large number of unskilled laborers, hundreds and thousands from the
surrounding country pour into the city. These people know nothing of
sanitary appliances, they lodge in the most densely crowded parts of
the city, and often a dozen of them will hire a single room, not more
than ten feet square, in which they eat and sleep. It is said that
seventy per cent of the inhabitants of Bombay live in "chawls." These
are tenement buildings of from five to seven stories high, built on
the "flat" system. A narrow hall, at the end of which is a latrine,
runs through each story, and from this doors open into rooms eight by
twelve feet in area. In one of these houses from five hundred to eight
hundred people live. These buildings are crowded together, with only
narrow, dark alleys between. Into these alleys the inhabitants of the
houses on both sides throw all kinds of refuse. In many parts of the
city fecal matter is deposited in boxes or baskets, and these, when
filled, are carried on the heads of scavengers to certain designated
places and the contents dumped into the sewers. It may be of interest
to note, in passing, that these scavengers seem to be largely immune
to the plague and all other infectious diseases.

This is a brief description of the sanitary condition of the city into
which the bubonic plague found its way nearly three years ago. How
long is it likely to remain? Before attempting to answer this question
we might ask what means have been employed to eradicate the disease.
On October 6, 1896, the municipal health commissioner issued an order
to the effect that all cases of the plague were to be segregated,
their houses disinfected, by force if necessary, and their sick to be
taken to the hospital. Health inspectors visited all parts of the
city, and carefully went through the great tenement houses looking for
those sick with the plague. When such were found they were immediately
sent to a hospital. Later, four camps were prepared, with facilities
for accommodating about twenty thousand people. An attempt was made to
transfer all the residents from a certain section of the city to these
camps, and detain them there while their residences were being
disinfected. After this had been done these people were allowed to
return to their homes, and another twenty thousand were taken to the
camps. This attempt, however, was never fully carried out. A
high-caste Hindoo prefers death at any time to association with one of
inferior caste. Every attempt at segregation of the sick led to more
or less disturbance; and finally, in March, 1898, serious riots
resulted. These were begun by Mohammedans, who followed a medical
officer to the hospital and burned the building and hospital supplies.
A plague inspector and three English soldiers were stoned to death.
Since the riots attempts at segregation of the sick have been
practically abandoned. Numerous hospitals have been provided, in order
that those differing in religion or in caste might be cared for at
different places. Under certain restrictions those sick with the
plague are allowed to remain in their homes. It will be seen from
these statements that it is not probable that the plague will be
driven by human agency out of Bombay. The Hindoos believe that when
the plague finds its way into a city it will remain for six years. The
probabilities are that this belief will be strengthened by the history
of the present epidemic in Bombay. Nothing short of an extensive
conflagration, destroying a large part of the city, can thoroughly
disinfect this place, in which the plague has already dwelt for nearly
three years. I think, therefore, that we must conclude that it is
quite certain that for several years yet Bombay will remain an
infected city.

When the plague was first announced at Bombay a large number of its
inhabitants, estimated at about three hundred thousand, left the city.
There can be but little doubt that with these the germs of the plague
were carried into the surrounding country. From Bombay the disease has
spread out in every direction, until it has found its way into nearly
every part of India. To-day the three large commercial cities of
British India--Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras--are all infected. The
manner of the introduction of the disease into Calcutta is somewhat
uncertain, several different accounts being given as authentic. Dr.
Cantlie says on this point: "The first case dealt with and reported
upon in Calcutta gives an interesting history. The patient, a lad
seventeen years old, came from Bombay, where evidently he had been
exposed to infection, as his sister, who accompanied him, had seen
several cases of plague in Bombay. Fifteen days before leaving Bombay
he had noticed swelling first in one groin and then in the other, but
never felt ill until his arrival in Calcutta, on September 24th. He
was seen and carefully examined in Calcutta by honest observers, and a
diplobacterium identical with the Kitasato bacillus was found in his
blood. Not only so, but the clinical symptoms of plague were most
manifest."

Another authority would have it that the plague was brought to
Calcutta from Hong Kong by a British regiment which had been engaged
in cleansing infected houses at Hong Kong. On this point Dr. Simpson
makes the following statement: "In January, 1895, the regiment went to
Calcutta, and this disease was first diagnosed as syphilis, then as
malarial fever with bubo, and finally the cause was declared to be
unknown. In June, 1896, one of the medical officers of the regiment
was attacked with fever, and the glands of the neck, axilla, and groin
were all enlarged. A goodly number of similar cases were met with in
the town; moreover, the rats became sick, and the grain stores swarmed
with diseased and dead rats. In spite of opposite evidence, it was
well-nigh certain that plague in a sporadic form had been in Calcutta
since 1895 or 1896."

The bacillus of the plague has undoubtedly found Calcutta quite as
well prepared for its reception as Bombay. In discussing a medical
report on the sanitary condition of Calcutta, the Pioneer Mail makes
the following statement: "London, with its population of over
4,000,000, has about 36,000 people to the square mile. In the thirteen
wards of Calcutta there are only four below this figure; the remainder
have from 46,000 to 144,000 per square mile, three wards containing
actually over 100,000. Colootolah is most densely populated; the
houses are literally crammed with people. One case is quoted where 250
persons were living in a space that should accommodate only 50. In a
hut seven feet in length, breadth, and height five men were found, and
several instances are given where similar conditions obtained. In our
barracks 600 cubic feet per man is the minimum space allowed. In these
_bastis_ the space runs from 157 to 49 cubic feet. This would be bad
enough if everything were clean and sweet in and about the huts, but,
as the medical board puts the case, 'here we find an allowance per
head going as low as practically one thirtieth of that given in
barracks, and no ventilation, with filth _ad libitum_ both in the room
and in its surroundings, to say nothing of the filthy persons of its
occupants, the sewage in the adjacent drains, and the accumulated
filth in the neighboring latrines; and to this may be added the fact
that the subsoil on which the huts are built is soaked through and
through with sewage matters and littered with garbage and filth of all
kinds.' The narrow gullies which give access to these huts are in
keeping with the general character of the _bastis_, and we may well
wonder that epidemic disease is not always present."

The probabilities are that the plague will continue in Bombay,
Calcutta, and Madras until it dies out from want of susceptible
material. It is not at all likely, with the conditions in these
cities, such as have already been described, that sanitary measures
sufficiently energetic to destroy the bacillus will be resorted to.
For some years to come these cities are likely to harbor the
infection, and will remain, as they are now, nurseries for the
disease.

The plague has not confined itself to the large cities of India, but
has spread all over that country. It has extended into the
northwestern provinces, has crossed the frontier, and passed into
Baluchistan and Afghanistan. In many of the interior cities it has
proved quite as fatal, in proportion to the population, as at Bombay
and Calcutta. At Poonah the mortality has during some weeks been as
high as eighty per cent of the cases, and four hundred deaths a week
have been reported. At Sholapore, in the Punjab, far to the northwest
of Bombay, the disease has prevailed in epidemic form.

With the plague widely diffused over the Indian empire, what measures
have been taken to prevent its spread to other parts of the world?
There are two routes by means of which the disease may pass from India
to Europe. One of these is by ship through the Red Sea, the Suez
Canal, and the Mediterranean; the other is overland from the
northwestern provinces of India through Afghanistan into southeastern
Europe. In fact, there are three overland routes from northwestern
India into Europe. One of these leads from Lahore, the capital of the
Punjab, through Afghanistan into the Transcaspian Province of Russia.
The Transcaspian Railway extends from Samarkand, a place of about
thirty-five thousand inhabitants, through the desert to the Caspian
Sea at Ouzoun Ada. The latter place is connected by steamer with Baku
and the Russian railroad system. The second overland route starts from
the northwestern provinces, or Afghanistan, or Baluchistan, passes
through Persia, extending on up between the Caspian and Black Seas,
and crosses the Caucasus Mountains in the neighborhood of Tiflis. Both
of these routes are quite extensively traveled and pass through cities
of considerable commercial importance. Samarkand has extensive
manufactures of cotton and silk, and carries on considerable trade by
means of the Transcaspian Railway with European Russia. The second
route passes through Teheran, the capital of Persia, with a population
of about two hundred and twenty-five thousand. This route is also
largely employed by commercial travelers, especially from Russia. The
third overland route passes through Persia and Turkey in Asia up to
Constantinople. This route can not be called a commercial highway, but
it is used to a considerable extent, especially by pilgrims, and since
at no point do travelers along this route come in contact with
European guards against the plague, it is most likely that the pest
will find its way into Constantinople by this avenue, if at all. The
first two overland routes are guarded by Russian medical inspectors.
Russia has not been slow to protect itself against the introduction of
this epidemic. In December, 1896, the following lines of action were
determined upon, and have apparently since that time been carried out
quite thoroughly: First, Russian medical men were sent to the larger
cities of Persia, such as Teheran and Meshed, for the purpose of
watching the approach of the plague. All Russian consular officers in
Persia were requested to inform these medical men of every rumor of
the epidemic. Second, points of embarkation on the Persian shore of
the Caspian Sea have been watched, in order to detect suspicious cases
that might pass to Russia along this route. Third, observation
stations have been established along the frontiers of the Transcaspian
Province. Inspection officers stationed at these places have been
notified to close the frontier, with the exception of certain points
where inspection stations have been established. Fourth, inspectors
have also been placed to guard the region of Tiflis against the
introduction of the plague from both Persia and Turkey. For the
reasons above mentioned, it seems to me probable that if the plague
reaches Europe, it will likely do so by way of Turkey in Asia, across
the Bosporus into Constantinople. The large number of pilgrims passing
along this route, with the Turk's well-known fatalistic belief, render
it quite probable that infection gathered anywhere along the route
may be carried into Europe. Since several places in Hedjaz, along the
eastern shore of the Red Sea, have already become infected with the
plague, it is by no means improbable that the disease may find its way
into the Balkan Peninsula. There are also several centers of infection
along the shores of the Persian Gulf. It will be seen from these
statements that Mohammedan pilgrims are exposed to the infection.
Indeed, already the disease has been detected among these pilgrims on
steamships in the Red Sea.

Certain international measures for the restriction of the plague were
formulated at the Sanitary Convention of Venice in 1897. Nearly all
civilized nations sent representatives to this conference, and certain
general rules were adopted. Recognizing the fact that Mohammedan
pilgrims from infected districts in India, coming to Mecca and other
places along the eastern shore of the Red Sea, would mingle with those
of like faith from Turkey and northern Africa, special rules
concerning pilgrims were adopted at this conference. It should be
understood, however, that these rules are likely to prove efficient
safeguards only among those pilgrims who travel by sea. In the first
place, the conference made certain regulations concerning the
construction and sanitary arrangements of pilgrim ships. The upper
deck must be kept clear for these people, and on the main covered deck
every pilgrim has to have at least sixteen square feet of surface.
Every one embarking on a pilgrim vessel must pass a medical
inspection. No sick person or one suspected of having an infectious
disease is allowed to go on board. The number which the vessel is
allowed to carry is determined beforehand, and the names of all
passengers and their home residences are recorded. The ship must
supply wholesome water and make provision for food, proper in quality
and sufficient in quantity. Every vessel carrying pilgrims must have
on board a medical officer and a disinfecting stove. Details are given
concerning the sanitary regulations during the voyage. All pilgrims
are landed on the island of Camaran, in the Red Sea, before being
allowed to disembark on the last stage of their journey. The period of
detention from healthy ships at this place extends through only three
days. If no disease appears during this time, the pilgrims are allowed
to embark again, and go directly to Jeddah. If disease appears either
before or after landing at Camaran, the pilgrims are detained at least
ten days from the date of the last case. Arriving at Jeddah, they are
no longer under international sanitary regulations, and any control
exercised over them at that time must be administered by Turkish
authorities. Just here, in my opinion, lies the greatest danger so far
as pilgrims are concerned. It is true that the conference made certain
recommendations and formulated certain rules concerning the return of
those pilgrims going to the north or into Egypt, but the fact must not
be overlooked that these restrictions are applicable only to those who
go by sea. No restrictions are placed upon Mohammedan pilgrims
returning from Mecca to India. India is already so generally infected
that such restrictions have been deemed unnecessary.

The following is a general statement of the rules applicable to
vessels coming to European ports from India through the Suez Canal:
All vessels that have been ten days or longer at sea after departure
from an infected port are allowed to pass through the canal without
question and without precaution. Suspected vessels or those which have
been at sea less than ten days since departure from an infected port,
and which are provided with a medical officer and a properly equipped
disinfecting plant, are allowed to pass through the canal in
quarantine. This means that while passing through the canal there
shall be no communication between those on board the vessel and those
on the land. Other suspected vessels are compelled to proceed to the
Wells of Moses for disinfection. Here the passengers and crew are
disembarked, isolated for twenty-four hours, and their effects
disinfected. At the same time the contents of the ship undergo
disinfection. If the plague be found on board, all passengers, as well
as the crew, are detained for a period not exceeding ten days. All
clothing, the cargo, and the ship itself are disinfected. When a
vessel passes through the Suez Canal in quarantine, notice of that
fact is telegraphed to the country to which the vessel is going, and
it is not allowed to land elsewhere.

Should the plague appear in any European country, the following rules
were formulated to prevent its spread: (1) Whenever a case of the
plague appears in any country the sanitary authorities of that country
must give immediate notice to all other countries represented in the
conference. This notice may pass through diplomatic or consular
agencies, or it may be sent directly by telegraph. After this the
sanitary authorities of the country in which the plague has appeared
shall inform other countries at least once a week concerning the
progress of the disease and the measures resorted to to prevent its
spread.

(2) When an infected person enters a country by rail or other
conveyance overland, disinfection of his person and personal effects
is made obligatory. Land quarantine is condemned, and it is
recommended that modern disinfection be practiced in its stead. Each
country, however, may reserve the right to close its frontier against
any other country in which the disease exists. It is recommended that
medical inspection along the frontier be established in connection
with custom-house examinations, in order to prevent unnecessary delay
in travel. Passenger trains and postal cars are not to be detained at
any frontier, but if a car be found to contain a real or a suspected
case of the plague, this car shall be detached from the train at the
frontier or at the nearest station thereto and its contents
disinfected.

(3) Travelers coming from infected countries may be, at the discretion
of the sanitary authorities, detained under observation for a period
not exceeding eight days. Individual governments are allowed to take
any special measures that may be deemed wise against the importation
of the disease by means of gypsies, vagrants, and immigrants.

In formulating the above-mentioned rules to prevent the importation of
the plague into Europe the members of the Venice Congress seem to have
been thoroughly convinced that the longest period of incubation
possible in this disease is ten days. It seems to have been assumed
that if a vessel had been for ten days or longer at sea after
departure from an infected port, and no cases of the plague had
developed up to that time, there could be no danger of this vessel
carrying the infection. It appears to me that a safer course would
have been to require inspection of all persons and things going on
board a vessel leaving an infected port, and the thorough disinfection
of certain things, at least, on such vessels arriving at uninfected
ports. The disinfection of a ship and its cargo by means of steam is
not at present a very costly procedure.

Since the plague, if it reaches America at all, must come to us by
sea, it may be of special interest to inquire concerning outbreaks of
this disease on board ship. In making this inquiry we will confine
ourselves to such cases as have occurred within the past two years. In
March, 1897 (I have been unable to ascertain the exact date), the
transport Dilwara left Bombay, bound for Southampton, with a regiment
of English soldiers, together with their wives and children. On March
18th, while the vessel was in the Red Sea, a child died of the plague
and was buried at sea. On arriving at Suez the persons who had been in
immediate contact with the child were transferred to the Wells of
Moses and properly disinfected. After this had been done, the vessel
was allowed to pass through the Suez Canal in quarantine. No fresh
case occurred, and the vessel arrived at Southampton April 6th. Here
all articles which might possibly contain infection were disinfected,
the passengers were allowed to go to their homes, and the troops were
placed in barracks. No other cases resulted.

On July 6, 1897, one of the crew of the Carthage, of the Peninsular
and Oriental Company's line, was attacked with the plague. The ship
was then in the Arabian Sea. Two days later the sick man, with two
other members of the crew detailed to attend him, was landed at Aden.
Six days later a second member of the crew was attacked with slight
symptoms of the plague. This fact was reported when the vessel passed
Malta. The Carthage had intended to stop at Marseilles, but, on
account of the plague on board, continued its course to England. Both
of these patients were isolated by being placed in a large boat hung
at a height at the side of the vessel so as to avoid communication
with others on the ship. When the vessel arrived at Plymouth the
passengers were allowed to depart to their respective homes. The only
precaution that was taken consisted in ascertaining the destination of
each person, and informing the health authorities of the places to
which these people were going. The Carthage had on board a steam
disinfector, and everything that had been exposed to the infection was
thoroughly disinfected. On arrival at the port of London the second
patient was isolated until he recovered. No cases developed in
England.

On December 7, 1897, the Caledonia arrived at Plymouth, England, from
Bombay, without touching at any Mediterranean port. While in the Red
Sea two lascars developed symptoms of the plague. They were landed at
Suez, and no further outbreak occurred. When the ship reached Plymouth
one hundred and sixty passengers were landed, and their names and
addresses forwarded to the local authorities of their respective
destinations. After proper disinfection, the ship proceeded to London.

In December, 1898, a case of plague developed on the Golconda while at
Marseilles, on her way from Bombay to London. The ship proceeded
immediately, the patient was landed at Plymouth, proper disinfection
was carried out, and no other cases developed. This is a proof that
the assumption that a vessel is safe from infection after ten days
have passed since leaving an infected port is fallacious, as this time
was exceeded between Bombay and Marseilles.

The report that the Nippu Maru recently arrived at San Francisco with
the plague on board has proved to be erroneous.

In September, 1896, a Portuguese-Indian steward died at the Seamen's
Hospital, at Greenwich, England, very suddenly. This man was in the
hospital for only forty-eight hours, and no one suspected the plague
at that time. On the last day of October of the same year another
patient in the same hospital was taken ill and died with symptoms of
the plague. Bacteriological examinations of the glands of the body of
the second man were made, and a bacillus which presented the
well-known characters of the plague bacillus was found. The vessel on
which the Portuguese steward came to England left Bombay about the
end of August, 1896. There was at that time no official knowledge of
the existence of the plague in Bombay, but it probably existed there.
This is another evidence of the fallacy of the belief in the ten days'
period of incubation. It seems quite evident to me that the English
authorities lay too much stress upon the period of incubation. A man
leaving Bombay or any other infected port may carry the bacillus under
his finger nails, elsewhere on his person, or in his clothing, and may
not become infected until many days after leaving the infected place.
Careful inspection and thorough disinfection of all vessels coming
from infected ports should be insisted upon. It has been abundantly
demonstrated by the history of the plague, as well as that of other
infectious diseases, that the old plan of detention in quarantine is a
relic of bygone times. Detention is cruel, dangerous, and inefficient;
inspection and disinfection are rational and efficacious.

The modes of infection with the bacillus of the plague are as follows:
(1) By inoculation. The history of the present epidemic in Asia
recounts several instances of inoculation with the plague bacillus. On
June 22 or 23, 1896, while making a post-mortem examination, Professor
Ayoama, of Tokio, one of the Japanese commissioners sent to Hong Kong
to study the plague, scratched the third finger on his left hand; on
June 27th he again scratched himself on the end of the right thumb; on
the evening of June 28th he felt ill, and had a temperature of 101.6°
F.; he slept well during that night, but during the afternoon of June
29th he had a temperature of 105° F. At that time a bubo was found in
the left axilla, and there was well-marked lymphangitis of the right
arm. Professor Ayoama has described his own case as follows: "On June
28th, after having finished a dissection, I took my meal about half
past two and did not enjoy it. After the meal I went upstairs, when at
certain movements of the arm I felt a slight pain in the left armpit,
and on feeling with my finger I found some slightly enlarged glands
present. In the evening I felt very ill, depressed, and languid,
burning hot along the whole of the back, while the thermometer showed
normal temperature. As Mr. Kitasato and I had invited guests that
evening, I was present at supper. I had no appetite, and felt so
languid that I often wished to withdraw. At half past eleven I hurried
to my room, when I found my temperature was 39° C. I took one gramme
of quinine, and slept well. Next morning I awoke and noticed, on the
under side of the left ring finger, a small, whitish-yellow blister,
and then, along the back of the hand, a red line. From this time I
remembered nothing for more than two weeks."

Dr. Ishigami, another of the Japanese commission in Hong Kong, also
inoculated himself with the plague while making a post-mortem
examination.

A patient, while delirious with the pneumonic form of the plague,
expectorated into the face of an English nurse caring for him. Within
a few hours the eye on that side of the face became inflamed; later
the parotid and cervical glands became involved, and the nurse died.
Other illustrations of inoculation with the bacillus of the plague
might be given. Dr. Wyssokowitch and Dr. Jobobat believe that the
bacillus can penetrate the unbroken skin. In support of this belief
they report some experiments made by them upon macaque monkeys. They
found that when a needle was dipped in the culture of the plague
bacillus and drawn across the palm of the hand of one of these
monkeys, without making any visible scratch, the animal speedily
developed the disease. However, this does not prove that the bacillus
will penetrate the unbroken skin of man.

(2) By inhalation. That the pneumonic form of the plague results from
inhalation of the bacillus can not be doubted. Monkeys caused to
inhale the bacillus develop this form of the disease.

(3) By deglutition. That the disease may be acquired by taking the
bacillus into the alimentary canal has been demonstrated by
experiments upon animals of various kinds.

The sputum of patients suffering from the pneumonic form of the
disease is filled with the bacilli. The germs are also found,
sometimes at least, in the discharges from the bowels and kidneys.
That the infection may be transported in clothing and rags has been
long known. The following extract from a memoir by Sir John Hay, then
minister from England to Morocco, indicates that the plague was
introduced into Morocco in 1826 by means of infected articles of
clothing: "The danger from plague by contagion can not, however, to my
mind be called in question. That dire disease was introduced into
Morocco about the year 1826 by an English frigate, which our
Government had dispatched to Alexandria, where the plague was then
raging, to convey from that port to Tangier two sons of the Sultan,
returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca. No case of plague or other
illness had occurred on board the frigate during the voyage, and the
Sultan's sons and other passengers were allowed to land at Tangier.

"The customs officers, being suspicious that, in the numerous boxes
brought by the pilgrims who had been permitted to embark with the
Moorish princes, contraband goods were being smuggled, caused some of
the cases to be opened. One contained Egyptian wearing apparel, which
the owner said he had bought second hand, and subsequently confessed
had belonged to a person who had died of the plague in Alexandria. The
two Moorish officials who opened the boxes were attacked with the
plague that night and died in a few hours. The disease spread rapidly
throughout Morocco, carrying off eighty per cent of those who were
attacked."

I mention these facts in order to emphasize the desirability of
disinfecting all articles liable to carry the infection coming from
infected places.

Professor Haffkine's preventive inoculation against the plague is
still being largely employed in India. This consists in injecting
hypodermically sterilized cultures of the bacillus. No curative action
is claimed for this treatment, but it is believed to be protective
against the disease. It is stated that more than eighty thousand
people in India have undergone this form of vaccination, and that the
death rate among these has been exceedingly low. However, it is well
to be careful in accepting statistical statements on a matter of this
nature. In the first place, it is probable that only the more
intelligent will submit to vaccination, and these will also employ
other means of protecting themselves against the disease. In the
second place, there are many thousands of people exposed to the
infection, or at least live in infected districts, who have never been
vaccinated and who do not acquire the disease.

Three kinds of serum have been used as curative agents in the plague.
In 1896 M. Yersin began the use of a specially prepared serum in
China. The first cases treated with this preparation did unusually
well, and it was hoped that most valuable results would follow from
its more extended use. This serum is prepared after the manner of the
antitoxine used in the treatment of diphtheria. That used most largely
in India is made at the Imperial Institute of Experimental Medicine in
St. Petersburg. Numerous physicians in India have reported upon the
action of this serum, and none of them favorably. Very recently Dr.
Clemow treated fifty cases with this serum, and compared them with
fifty other cases treated without the serum. Every other case was
selected for the serum treatment. The mortality was exactly the same
in each group, forty patients out of fifty dying.

The second serum is that prepared by M. Roux, of the Pasteur Institute
in Paris. This is practically the same as the preparation made by M.
Yersin, and the results obtained are equally unsatisfactory. In 1897
the writer had the privilege of observing, both at Paris and at St.
Petersburg, the preparation of these agents, from which at that time
great results were expected. A third preparation is made by Professor
Lustig, of Florence. I have been unable, so far, to find any detailed
account of the method followed by Professor Lustig in preparing his
serum. From all that I can learn, however, it is not a serum, but a
sterilized bacterial culture; at any rate, Lustig's preparation has
proved probably least valuable of all.

At present (July, 1899) the plague prevails throughout India, and has
appeared at various places in Baluchistan and Afghanistan, at
Samarkand in the Transcaspian Province of Russia; in Persia, at
Bassorah and other points along the Persian Gulf; at several places
along the western shore of the Red Sea; at Suez and Alexandria; at
Tamatave, in Madagascar; at Port Lewis, Mauritius; at Penang, in the
Straits Settlements; at Amoy and Hong Kong, China; and at numerous
places in Formosa. For reasons already given, it will not be at all
surprising should the recent report that the plague had appeared in
Constantinople prove to be true. If it once reaches that place, it is
more than likely that it will become scattered throughout the Balkan
Peninsula. The sad death of Professor Müller and his laboratory
servant, at Vienna, from the plague bacillus which Professor Müller
brought from Bombay, shows the necessity for caution in handling the
germ of this disease.

Are we in America in danger of the plague? I will have to answer this
question very much as I did two years ago: "Yes, we are in danger; but
this danger, being foreseen, may be easily avoided." In my opinion,
our most vulnerable point is along the Pacific coast. With the plague
at Hong Kong, it is possible that it may be transferred to Manila, and
the transports bringing soldiers to this country may also bring the
infection. However, I think the chances of this happening are small.
The length of time required to make the voyage from Manila to San
Francisco is so great that, with the infection on board, it would be
almost certain to manifest itself before reaching our shores, and,
knowing its presence on board a ship reaching San Francisco or any
other point on the western coast, thorough inspection and disinfection
will keep the disease out of this country. The probabilities are that
for several years to come the larger cities of India, at least, will
remain infected, and our sanitary authorities must be vigilant. The
fact that, if the plague reaches us at all, it must come by sea, that
a long voyage must be made before it can reach us, and that the
disease will most probably appear on board ship before arrival at any
American port--all these conditions are in our favor. The General
Government should take upon itself the control of all measures to
prevent the introduction of infectious diseases from without.
Quarantine detention is a relic of ignorance of the true nature of
infectious diseases. All transports and other vessels between Manila
and this country should be provided with proper disinfecting
apparatus. The Government should supply the Marine-Hospital Service
with every needed equipment, and if this be done the plague can enter
America only through incompetency in that service. There is another
source of danger on our Western coast that must not be overlooked. The
plague is now widely distributed in Formosa, which is under the
control of Japan, and our intercourse with the last-mentioned country
should be most carefully watched.




TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE AND ITS PRESIDENT.

BY M. B. THRASHER.


Tuskegee is a county town in the State of Alabama, not far from
Montgomery. It is near the center of that part of the South commonly
spoken of as the "black belt," because the negro inhabitants there
greatly outnumber the whites. The town is one of the oldest in the
South. It is said, in fact, that when De Soto made his famous journey
across that part of the newly discovered continent he found an Indian
village of the same name on the site of the present town. Tuskegee is
five miles from the main line of the Southern Railroad, with which it
is connected at Chehaw by means of a narrow-gauge road.

[Illustration: THE FACULTY OF THE TUSKEGEE NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL
INSTITUTE.]

Tuskegee, as the word is oftenest used now, means the Normal and
Industrial Institute, situated a mile out from the town and forming a
little settlement in itself. This is the great school for young negro
men and women which Booker T. Washington has built up, and of which he
is the principal. The pupils who attend number a thousand each year.
It is the largest school for colored people, managed by colored
people, in the United States. There is no one connected with the
school, except some of the members of the board of trustees, who is
not of the race which the institute is designed to help.

Tuskegee Institute is so entirely the result of Booker T. Washington's
labors, and his life has been so interwoven with the development of
the school, that a brief account of his boyhood and youth is almost
indispensable to a complete description of the institute, particularly
as the conditions with which he struggled were so generally those
which confronted all of the negroes at that time.

[Illustration: PRESIDENT BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.]

Booker T. Washington was born a slave in Virginia, not long before the
breaking out of the war. It seems strange that a man who is so widely
known to-day and is so universally respected as Mr. Washington, when
asked how old he is should be obliged to reply that he does not know,
yet such is the case. The birth of one more black babies on a large
plantation at that time was a matter of too little moment to have
sufficient notice taken of it to accurately fix the date. He was a boy
old enough during the war, though, to know something of the struggle
going on around him, for, speaking in public of Lincoln once, I heard
him say: "My first acquaintance with our hero was this: Night after
night, before the dawn of day, on an old slave plantation in Virginia,
I recall the form of my sainted mother bending over the bundle of rags
that enveloped my body, on a dirt floor, breathing a fervent prayer to
Heaven that 'Massa Lincoln' might succeed, and that some day she and I
might be free."

[Illustration: MRS. BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.]

Another incident of those days I have heard him tell of in these
words: "Word was sent over the plantation for all 'the hands' to come
up to the 'big house.' We went, and to us men, women, and children
gathered in the yard some one standing on the veranda read a paper. I
was too young to understand why the men and women around me should
have begun to shout, 'Hallelujah! Praise de Lawd!' when the reading
was finished, but my mother, bending down to where I was clinging to
her dress, whispered to me that we were free."

Not long after the close of the war the Washingtons left the
plantation and went to West Virginia, where, in the coal mines, work
could be had which would pay money wages. At first Booker worked in
the mines with his brothers, but he soon became dissatisfied with the
chance for improvement which that work afforded. "The first thing that
led me to study," he has said, "was seeing a young colored man slowly
reading a newspaper to a group of colored people who surrounded him
with open mouths and gaping eyes. He was almost a god to them." The
chance to study was soon found. An energetic woman of kindly nature
hired the young colored boy to work about her house as a general
chore-boy. Finding that he was anxious to learn, she offered to teach
him to read in the spare minutes of his work, and did so. One day he
overheard a man talking about Hampton, where General Armstrong had
already begun his noble work. This, the man said, was a place where
black boys could go to school, and at the same time work to pay their
way. "As soon as I heard that," Mr. Washington has said, "I made up my
mind that Hampton was just the place for me, and that I would go
there. I started, although I had no money and did not even know where
Hampton was. I felt sure I could inquire the way as I went, and work
my passage. I walked a good share of the way, begged some rides, and
when I had earned any money which I could spare, paid my fare to ride
on the trains. I reached Richmond, Virginia, one night too late to get
any work, and I was entirely out of money. While I was walking about
wondering where I would get a lodging, I happened to see a nice dry
place under a stretch of plank sidewalk. Watching my chance when no
one was looking, I crawled in and curled up to sleep. The next day I
was so fortunate as to get work helping to unload a vessel, and, as
the job lasted several days, I came back each night to my lodging
under the sidewalk, thus saving all my wages except the little
required for food. In this way I was able to get money enough to carry
me the rest of the way to Hampton, and leave me fifty cents when I got
there."

In these days of entrance examinations to various institutions of
learning, it is interesting to read of the examination which young
Washington was required to pass before he could enter Hampton. He
tells us of it thus: "Of course," says he, "they knew nothing of me,
and, after my long tramp, days of hard labor and nights of sleeping in
barns and under sidewalks, I suppose I could not have presented a very
prepossessing appearance. After looking me over in a not very
encouraging manner, they gave me a broom and took me into a room,
which they told me to sweep. I suppose I swept that room over three or
four times before I was satisfied to call it done, when a teacher came
in and took her handkerchief and wiped the walls to see if she could
find any dust on them. After that they said I could come to the
school. So you see I passed my examination.

"At Hampton I found the opportunity, in the way of buildings,
teachers, and industries provided by the generous, to get training in
the class room, and by practical touch with industrial life to learn
thrift, economy, and push. I was surrounded by an atmosphere of
business, Christian influence, and a spirit of self-help that seemed
to have awakened every faculty within me, and caused me for the first
time to realize what it meant to be a man instead of a piece of
property.

"While there I resolved that, when I had finished my course of
training, I would go into the far South, into the 'black belt' of the
South, and give my life to providing the same kind of opportunity for
self-reliance and self-awakening that I had found provided for me at
Hampton. My work began at Tuskegee, Alabama, in 1881, in a small
shanty and church, with one teacher and thirty students, without a
dollar's worth of property. The spirit of work and of industrial
thrift, with aid from the State and generosity from the North, has
enabled us to develop an institution of a thousand students, gathered
from twenty-six States, with eighty-one instructors and thirty-eight
buildings.

"I am sometimes asked what is the object of all this outlay of energy
and money. To that I would answer that the needs of the ten million
colored people in the South may be roughly said to be food, clothing,
shelter, education, proper habits, and a settlement of race relations.
These ten million people can not be reached by any direct agency, but
they can be reached by sending out among them strong selected young
men and women, with the proper training of the head and hand and
heart, who will live among these masses and show them how to lift
themselves up. The problem that Tuskegee Institute keeps before itself
is how to prepare these leaders."

The first time I went to Tuskegee I happened to ride for half a day
through the State of Georgia in the same seat in the car with a man
whose conversation showed him to be one of the class to whom the
designation "unreconstructed" has sometimes been applied. An officer
in the Confederate army, he had accepted the situation at the close of
the war, but now, after thirty years, although he spoke of existing
conditions without bitterness, he spoke of them with little or no
sympathy. I had some doubt how he would comment on my errand, when I
told him that I was on my way to attend the Negro Conference at
Tuskegee. Imagine my surprise when he exclaimed: "Going to Tuskegee,
are you, to see Booker Washington? Just let me tell you there's a man
that's got the right idea of things. He's teaching the negroes to
work. I wish the South had a thousand Booker Washingtons." This man, I
learned afterward, when I was in Atlanta, was one of the most
prominent and successful business men of that city.

The second day of my stay at Tuskegee, as I came out of the rude
buildings where the conference had been held, a young colored man
waiting at the door accosted me. "Is not this Mr. ----," he said, "and
at the World's Fair were you not in charge of such an exhibit?" naming
one of the educational exhibits. I said I was the man. "Don't you
remember me?" he added, telling me where he had been working at the
time. I did remember him perfectly, and asked how he happened to be so
far removed from Chicago.

"It was like this," he said. "Next year I went to the Atlanta
Exposition. While there I heard Mr. Washington speak, and learned
about his school where negro boys could learn a trade. I had always
been at a disadvantage because I did not know how to do any kind of
work really well. So I came here and began to learn carpentering. I
have the trade nearly learned now, and when I graduate from here I
shall know how to really work."

Soon after beginning my long car ride from Tuskegee back to the North
I stepped into the mail car on the train to post some letters. The
envelopes I had used bore the imprint of Tuskegee Institute in the
corner. As I handed them to the postal clerk, he glanced at the
printing in the corner and exclaimed: "I say, that Booker Washington
is a wonderful man, isn't he? I never saw him, but he's teaching those
people there to work." Then he went on to tell me about a young
colored man whom he had known who had gone to Tuskegee and learned
harness-making, and then come home to set up business for himself.
This man told me later that he had never been farther north than
Louisville.

It seemed to me as if here was an interesting coincidence of unsought
testimony, and all tending to show how consistently Tuskegee teaches a
gospel of work. Industrial training goes hand in hand there, with
mental and moral teaching, in earnest effort to help the thousand
young negro men and women there and make their lives count for the
most possible for themselves and their race.

[Illustration: A CLASS IN MENTAL PHILOSOPHY.]

Any one who has heard Mr. Washington speak at any length to audiences
of his own race knows how earnestly he advocates industrial education
for the negro. As might be expected, then, we find at Tuskegee
practical hand training. The advantage is twofold. The students not
only learn to work, but in doing so many are enabled to work out all
or a part of the expenses which otherwise in many cases would have
prevented them from remaining at the school.

[Illustration: ARMSTRONG HALL. One of the oldest buildings at
Tuskegee.]

Of the thirty-eight buildings at Tuskegee, all but the first three,
and these are among the smallest ones, have been built by the
students. Several of the largest of these buildings are of brick, and
the educational process begins in the institute's own brickyard, where
a class of muscular young men are making bricks under the direction of
a capable instructor, and in making them learn the trade which they
expect to follow in after life. This yard not only makes all the
bricks the institute uses, but many thousand more to be sold each year
for use in the surrounding country.

[Illustration: ALABAMA HALL. One of the first buildings erected by the
students.]

I heard Mr. Washington tell to an audience of fifteen hundred negroes,
in Charleston, South Carolina, a characteristic story of the beginning
of this brickyard. "After I had been teaching a while at Tuskegee," he
said, "I began to feel that I was partly throwing away my time
teaching the students only books, without getting hold of them in
their home life and without teaching them how to care for their bodies
and how to work. I looked about for some land, and found a farm near
Tuskegee which could be bought. I had no money, but a good friend had
confidence enough in our prospects to loan me five hundred dollars to
pay down toward the land so as to secure it. After that it was not
long before I had the school moved. Then I would teach the boys for a
part of the day, and then for the rest of the time take them out of
doors with me to help clear up the land. In that way we did all the
work we possibly could. When it came to making bricks for a building,
though, we were stuck. We could make the bricks, and did, but none of
us knew how to burn them. For that it was necessary to have a skilled
man, who must be paid. I was out of money by that time, but I owned a
gold watch. This I took to a pawnshop and raised all I could on it.
The money I got was enough to pay a man to burn the bricks and teach
us so that we could do the next ones ourselves. That watch is in pawn
yet, but we have got thirty-eight buildings."

[Illustration: STUDENTS AT WORK ON NEW TRADES-SCHOOL BUILDING.]

Another class of young men are learning bricklaying. They take the
bricks as they come from the yard and put up the walls of the
buildings, while the carpenters do the woodwork. The classes in
woodworking are among the most important at the school. The institute
now owns a large tract of valuable timber land, while among the
industrial buildings on the grounds is a good sawmill, equipped with
the necessary machinery. Whatever lumber is needed in the erection of
the buildings is cut on the timber lot, drawn to the mill, and sawed.
In this way one class learns to saw and handle lumber. Besides the
regular carpentry classes, joiner work and carriage-making are carried
on. A large part of the furniture in the buildings, including the
beds, tables, and chairs in the dormitories and dining rooms, was
built in this way. All the carts, wagons, and carriages which are used
about the place were built in the carriage shop, and the hickory
lumber wagons turned out there have so good a reputation that all not
needed on the place are sold readily to be used on the near-by farms.
The carriages are painted, ironed, and trimmed by the young men, and
no better proof of the workmanship can be asked than some of the rides
I have had in them about Tuskegee.

[Illustration: ONE END OF THE DINING HALL AT TUSKEGEE.]

The management at Tuskegee tries to have a building always in course
of construction for the benefit of the building classes. This year
they are erecting a trades-school building. Last year they built a
handsome brick church, which will seat two thousand persons. The
building of this church shows well what the school's building classes
can do. The designs were drawn by Mr. R. R. Taylor, the young colored
man who is the instructor in mechanical and architectural drawing. One
of his pupils designed the cornices with which the building is
finished, and another designed the pews which furnish it. These pews
were built in the school's joiner shop. The bricks were all made in
the school's brickyard, and laid by the students. Men learning slating
and tinsmithing covered the roof, and the steam-heating and electrical
apparatus were also put in by the students, although this is one of
the first of the buildings where the students have been sufficiently
advanced in those trades to do the last-named work.

As it was determined to employ only negroes as instructors at
Tuskegee, it was at first difficult to find enough men and women of
that race skilled in the arts and trades which it was wished to have
taught there, and teachers were brought to the institute from all over
the country. Now, however, as each year sees the industrial classes
better under way, the tide is setting out, and Tuskegee yearly turns
out teachers of trades, both men and women, who are eagerly sought by
other institutions which are coming to see the value of industrial
training. In many cases these teachers go to such positions at lower
wages than they might hope to earn if they went to work at their
trades, but they do this because they feel they have a duty to the
institute and to the friends who have sustained it, to help extend its
influence as widely as lies within their power. The question is often
asked if a negro having learned a trade can find work at it. I do not
think that the Tuskegee students who have thoroughly fitted themselves
feel any anxiety about this. I remember speaking on this subject to
the teacher in the harness-making and saddlery department, a good
workman and a superb physical specimen of a man. He told me that
during the long summer vacations he had left Tuskegee, and had never
had any trouble in getting work and keeping it in shops in Montgomery
and other towns of the State.

[Illustration: A CLASS OF TAILORS.]

Among the buildings at Tuskegee is a foundry and machine shop, which
is always full of work, especially in the way of repairs upon
agricultural machinery for the farmers about Tuskegee, because there
is no other shop of the kind within thirty miles at least which has
facilities for doing such heavy work as this. Printing, tailoring,
blacksmithing, and painting are taught. Since a large proportion of
the students at Tuskegee are young women, arrangements are made to
furnish opportunities for them also to learn to work. They do all the
work of taking care of the dormitories and dining rooms, learn plain
and fancy cooking, candy-making, millinery, dressmaking, and all the
most modern methods of laundry work. One class learns nursing, under
the direction of a capable trained nurse.

[Illustration: "BUILDING A HAT"; MILLINERY DEPARTMENT.]

In speaking of the trades taught at Tuskegee, it should be remembered
that agriculture is reckoned among them, and one of the most
important. A very large percentage of the negroes of the South must
continue to live upon the plantations and gain a living by tilling the
soil. As a general thing their knowledge of how to best do this is
lamentably deficient, and they labor under great disadvantages. They
do not own their land, but rent it at ruinous rates. They mortgage
their crops and eat them up before they are harvested. They plant
nothing but cotton, because that is about the only crop that can be
mortgaged, and are therefore obliged to buy food at any exorbitant
prices which the dealers may demand. Tuskegee tries to remedy these
evils by teaching the young men who come there the best methods of
modern farming. If the farmers' sons can remain only a short time they
carry back to the home plantations some new ideas to put in practice
there; if they can remain for the full term of three or four years,
they are fitted to take full charge of the work on any large
plantation. The institute has a farm on which are raised the crops
best adapted to the soil and climate of that part of the South. The
men who have charge of this work are among the most able in the entire
force of instructors. Mr. C. W. Green, the farm superintendent, has no
superior in the South as a practical farmer. Mr. George W. Carver, the
head of the agricultural department, is a graduate of the Iowa State
College. To my mind, no more valuable text-book for Southern scholars
could be furnished than a little pamphlet which this man has recently
issued, telling how he raised between two hundred and three hundred
bushels of sweet potatoes from an acre of ground, whereas the average
yield of that crop in the same part of the country is less than fifty
bushels to the acre.

[Illustration: AN INSTITUTE CABBAGE FIELD.]

Tuskegee has a large herd of cows and a good dairy and creamery, in
which a class of men receive instruction in dairy work. An incident
which occurred in connection with this dairy furnishes a story which
Mr. Washington likes to tell, because it illustrates a point which he
constantly impresses upon his colored audiences. One of the surest
ways to abolish the color line, he tells his hearers, is to learn to
do some kind of work so well that your services will be really needed.

[Illustration: THE START FROM THE BARN. "FARM STUDENTS."]

"There came to my knowledge," says Mr. Washington, "the fact that the
owners of a certain creamery were in search of an able superintendent.
We had just graduated a man who was thoroughly capable in every way,
but he was just about as black as it is possible for a man to be.
Nevertheless, I sent him on to apply for the place. When he made his
errand known to the owners they looked at him and said:

"'A colored man? Oh, that would never do, you know.'

[Illustration: DAIRYING DIVISION; MAKING BUTTER.]

"The applicant for work said very politely that he had not come there
to talk about his color, but about the making of butter. Still, they
said he would not do.

"Finally, however, something the man said attracted the attention of
the owners of the creamery, and they told him he might stay two weeks
on trial, although they still assured him that there was no
possibility whatever of their hiring a colored man. He went to work,
and when the report for the first week's shipment of butter came
back--would you believe it?--that butter had sold for two cents a
pound more than any butter ever before made at that creamery! The
owners of the establishment said to each other, 'Why, now, this is
very singular!' and waited for the second week. When the returns for
that week came back--a cent a pound more than for the week previous,
three cents a pound more than the creamery's best record before our
man had taken charge of it--they didn't say anything. They just
pocketed the extra dividend, as welcome as it was unexpected, and
hired the man for a term of years. That extra three cents a pound on
the price of the butter he could make had knocked every bit of black
out of the color of his skin so far as they were concerned."

[Illustration: DELEGATES TO THE TUSKEGEE NEGRO CONFERENCE.]

Out of the desire of Mr. Washington to help the struggling negro
farmers has grown one of Tuskegee's greatest institutions--the annual
Negro Conference which assembles there each year. About ten years ago
Mr. Washington invited a few of the negro farmers who lived near
Tuskegee to meet at the institute on a stated day "to talk over
things." Perhaps twenty men accepted the invitation. These men,
gathered in one of the smaller rooms of the institute, under Mr.
Washington's leadership discussed the problems with which they had to
contend, and different ones among them told how they had succeeded or
failed. The meeting was felt to be so helpful that another was planned
for the next year. From that small beginning has developed a
conference which now brings to Tuskegee, in February of each year, two
thousand persons, from a dozen States, and representing many
occupations besides that of farming. These men and women are the
parents of the generation which is at school at Tuskegee and similar
institutions. These fathers and mothers lived "too soon" to be able to
profit by such advantages. Few of them can read or write, and nearly
all of them know by experience what slavery was. They see their
children learning so much which was unattainable for them that they
ask, "Is there no chance for us?" The conference is Tuskegee's attempt
to answer that cry. As one grizzled old negro preacher, whom I heard
make the opening prayer one year, said, "O Lawd, we wants ter tank de
for dis, our one day ob schoolin' in de whole year."

[Illustration: NEGRO CONFERENCE IN SESSION IN TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE
CHURCH.]

Beginning with this year the conferences will be held in the new
church, which will comfortably seat all the delegates. Until this
church was completed, though, there was no audience room at the
institute which would begin to accommodate all who came, and the
sessions were held in a rude temporary building, which was also
utilized for chapel and graduation exercises. Convenient as the new
church is in every way, I shall always miss the unique gathering in
that old pavilion. Imagine a broad, low building of unplaned boards,
its floor the earth, and its seats backless benches made by spiking
planks on to posts driven into the ground. From its rafters hang
masses of Spanish moss, amid which streamers of red, white, and blue
bunting are woven. On the walls are many American flags, looped back
with the spiked leaves of the palmetto tree. Booker Washington stands
on a low platform at one end of the room, and all around him, packed
just as closely as they can be, are the people, while hundreds of late
comers cluster around the doors and open windows like bees around the
opening of a hive. No matter if the benches are backless and hard. No
opera audience in five-dollar chairs ever sat half so interested for
an hour as do these men and women through all the day, which, long as
it is, proves far too short for what they have to say. This is the one
day of the year for them, and not a minute must be wasted. The
speakers are the men and women themselves. Mr. Washington simply
starts the discussions and steers them so as to make all the time
count. He is a genius as a presiding officer, and gets more out of the
limited time than any one else could do. The subjects which they
discuss are the practical ones which concern them most vitally. Some I
have mentioned--non-ownership of land, crop-mortgaging, and the evil
of raising only cotton. Others are the need of a longer school year
and how to get it, the foolish extravagances of buying showy clocks,
sewing machines, and organs before a house is owned to put them in,
and similar subjects. The time is never long enough for all there is
to be said. The effort is to make this a center from which some
helpful thought will be carried out to take root during the year.

[Illustration: "PLAIN-SEWING" ROOM.]

I saw a striking example of the influence which the conference may
exert at one of the sessions. A tall young mulatto woman had finally
succeeded in getting a chance to speak, for there are always twice as
many to talk as can find time. "Last year brother Washington told us,"
said she, "that three acres of land, properly carried on, would
support a person, and told us how, and said that a woman as well as a
man could carry on the land. I made up my mind I'd try it. I did, and
it's so. I hired three acres of land and had it plowed. I had it
plowed deep, too. No lazy nigger half done the job, for I sat on the
ground myself to see it done." She then went on to tell what her seed
and fertilizer had cost, what she planted and raised, and what her
profits were, showing them to be quite enough, as she had said, to
support her for a year.

Loud applause greeted this report, and cries of "Dat's good!" and "Go
ahead, sister!" but through it all the woman was seen to be still
standing where she had spoken, waiting for a chance to go on, and with
no sign of satisfaction in her face at the approval shown her. Raising
one yellow hand high above her head, as soon as she could be heard,
she cried in a strangely thrilling voice, which echoed through the
dusky room: "How can you waste the one day of the year for us in such
foolishness, when the life of a race is in jeopardy? Get to work! We
must learn first to help ourselves, if we want God to help us!"

Hardly had this woman finished speaking when it was seen that another
woman had risen and was waiting for a chance to make herself heard. I
think I never saw a more pitiful figure. Very black, old, with a gaunt
form on which a shabby dress hung loosely, her face was that of a
person for whom life had been so hard that hope was for her a word
unknown. Two or three men in the audience said, "Oh, sit down!" as if
they wondered what such a person could have to say which would not be
a waste of the meeting's time, but she would not sit down. Standing
there until the noise had hushed, she began:

"I wants ter tank Gawd I'se come here ter day an' heard what dat
sister had ter say. I don' know what made me come. I'se nebber been
here before, but I'se so glad I come ter-day! I'se been de mother ob
sixteen chillen. I hain't nebber had a home nor a mule nor eben a
dress dat wa'n't morgiged. My chillen's gone an' lef' me as soon as
dey's growed up, an' now my ole man is gone too. I tought dere wasn't
nuffin lef' for me ter do but jes' die, but now I'se goin' home an'
get some lan' an' do for myself an' my littles' chillens what nobody
has ebber done for me. I kin do it, an' I tank Gawd I'se been here ter
git de word."

It seems to me as if this was missionary work of the best kind, and it
is such work as this that Tuskegee is doing constantly.




RECENT LEGISLATION AGAINST THE DRINK EVIL.

BY APPLETON MORGAN.

[_Concluded._]


X. QUALITY INSPECTION.--In my paper in these pages, in 1894, I
remarked, "If there is any such thing as a salutary liquor law, not
derived from excise or police jurisdiction, it would be, perhaps, a
statute insuring the purity of liquor; reviving that old English
functionary, the 'ale-taster,' with his care over all drinkables
exposed for sale." And surely this would be a legitimate and a
constitutional law, as providing for the public safety (which is,
after all is said, the origin and summit of all law). To kill a
rattlesnake the rattlesnake must first be recognized as alive, and the
old cry of the Podsnap that nothing improper exists is fast
disappearing. It seems to me that at present, and in view of the fact
that Mr. Reed's plan would involve a social and economical plant which
could only be accumulated by long and deliberate legislative action,
and admitting that the drink evil not only calls for legislative
action but has received it for sixty-two years, and so accustomed our
communities to expect it; admitting also Mr. Bellamy's and Mr. Reed's
basic proposition that there is no reason why any human being should
starve, and that it is not public policy that any creature of the
State (even if a criminal confined for crime in a State penitentiary)
should starve--admitting all these, it seems as if this plan really
might be the best and most immediately practicable plan yet. Every
State, without any criticism or clamor of constitutionalists against
paternal government, appoints its official tester of illuminating
fluids, that conflagration may not ensue and the public safety be
imperiled by the destruction of the citizens' homes. Why not a State
"tester" of the stimulant which may inflame the vital forces of the
citizen himself, and so imperil the public peace, which, by all laws,
is the public safety? Municipal corporations appoint inspectors of
meat, of milk, of fruits, of confectionery, precisely under this
constitutional duty of preserving the public health, upon which, most
largely of all, the public safety depends. Why not, then, inspectors
of the potables which the public drink?

By having liquors examined, and only pure liquors sold, and condemned
liquors destroyed, precisely as in the case of unclean or impure
meats, milk, fruit, and confectionery; much could be practicably, and
in a minimum lapse of time, accomplished to the decrease of the liquor
evil. The prohibitionists themselves, by placing and replacing and
abolishing and experimenting with all sorts of statutes upon the
statute-book, have accustomed us to State regulation of the sale of
intoxicants, and, least of all, can complain of yet one more
experiment toward the decrease of drunkenness.

Let the national or State government have liquors examined, and those
not up to the standard emptied into the sewers, precisely as in the
case of milk found filthy, dangerous, or questionable. The Government
might also supervise the distilleries and forbid the manufacture of
what are called "quick-aging" goods, or "continuous distillation,"
precisely as it controls the manufacture of oleomargarine. It is not
improbable that a commission appointed to this good work might, by
just, equitable, and easily-to-be-borne statutes, prescribe a time
limit or period after which no spirituous liquors should be sold less
than, say, five years old (the age of liquor being said to regulate
its irritant and insanitary and to conserve its really salutary and
sanitary qualities). I believe (not without consultation and a
deliberate exchange of opinion with experts) that the good effects of
such legislation would be almost instant; I believe that from pure
motives of self-interest alone the distillers and rectifiers of
liquors, instead of fighting such a law, would be eager to compete to
furnish pure brands of liquor for the State censors, in the certainty
that the State must adopt the best and the purest. To-day the public
is served with precisely what the publican finds it most to his profit
to sell. It may be only dirty water which he sells at a price at which
he could (to his own immense profit) sell pure liquor. In every
drinking place in the land, to which the public resorts, there are two
prices--one price for what you order, and the other for the same
"good." I believe that one of these days the world will remember, as
curiously as it now remembers the days of the stagecoach or the
tallow-dip, a time when a man desiring a dram of liquor was obliged to
drink whatever the dram-seller found it profitable to sell him.

We have tried about everything else. Why not try this? We have
conceded to our legislators the right and the jurisdiction. Since we
can not adopt Mr. Reed's proposition to feed everybody, why not enter
the wedge right here and do the next best or a next best thing--see
that the people not only eat proper meats and fruits, but that they
drink, if drink they will, pure liquors? And it need be added (however
it may appear to be a sop to Cerberus) that it would not antagonize
that most powerful class, whose organized and capitalized opposition
every other liquor-regulating law which has ever been suggested has at
once antagonized, and been obliged in the end to if not conciliate, at
least to recognize in the adjustment of equities. Fortunately, we have
not to begin our experiments out of whole cloth. Illinois, Michigan,
Ohio, Massachusetts, New York, and Washington have led the way, and
made the adulteration of liquor a misdemeanor. (New York, however, has
probably negatived the best results of the prohibition by adding that
the prohibited adulteration must only be "with any deleterious drug,
substance, or liquor which is poisonous or injurious to the health,"
which is shutting one door and opening another, and relegating to the
lawyers and their experts a tedious inquisition as to what the word
"poisonous" or the term "injurious to health" may mean, in the course
of which the offender would walk free.) The question as to whether it
would conserve the public peace as well as the public safety by
decreasing drunkenness can only be favorably conjectured. Experience
of such a law only can show. To begin with, it would increase the cost
of a dram. A glass of true whisky, for example, might be twenty cents
instead of ten, and (the law forbidding adulteration) this would
probably in itself lessen dram-drinking. In England, many years ago, a
similar law was found to eventuate in compelling that only the highest
grades of ale should be sold at a certain price. This led to the
offering of a second, and then of a third grade, and finally of what
was claimed to be a blending of all three grades or an "entire" (which
was the origin of the term ENTIRE, that later began to be the name of
an alehouse--a legend still seen on English alehouse signs). But the
law we now suggest, by preventing the blending of three grades of
spirits, might, while lessening the sales, increase the excise
revenues, and perhaps accomplish whatever may be left to be
accomplished in conserving at once the health, the peace, and the
income of the State.

That a system by which only pure liquors can be exposed for sale as
beverages is feasible, seems already assured, the States of Ohio,
Illinois, Michigan, Massachusetts, and Washington having already long
since adopted a partial statutory policy of the sort, and the State of
New York, in 1896, having followed. In order to demonstrate what these
have accomplished, and what improvements can be suggested, there were
addressed to the proper officers of each of these States the following
questions, viz.:

1. In your State what officer is charged with enforcement of the
provisions of its liquor statutes, forbidding adulteration of liquors
exposed for sale as beverages? And must such officer be examined as to
his experience or as to his competency only?

2. Is his standard of unadulterated liquors established by law, and if
so, what is it? Or is the officer's judgment as to what liquor may or
may not be sold discretionary according to the circumstances of each
case?

3. Is the examination to be conducted by taste or tasting (sampling),
the old English method, or by chemical analysis?

4. Is adulteration so defined as to include the mixing of liquor with
water, or only with substances or liquids in themselves toxicants?

5. Is the effect of this clause thought to be beneficial? Has it, for
example, decreased drunkenness?

To the first question Mr. Samuel P. Sharpless, State Assayer of
Massachusetts, reports as follows: "An assayer of liquor is appointed
under our public statutes, who is charged with performing such duties
as are referred to him. No particular examination prior to appointment
is laid down. The presumption is that an analytical chemist will
receive the appointment, as in the twenty years in which the law has
existed only analytical chemists have received the same."

As to Ohio, Mr. Joseph E. Blackburn, Dairy and Food Commissioner,
says: "The office of Dairy and Food Commissioner is charged with the
enforcement of all laws governing the sale of food, drink, and drugs.
He is not required to stand any examination, and his experience and
qualifications are not considered except as to his eligibility as a
candidate. It is distinctly a political position, and all the parties
nominate candidates for the place."

As to Michigan, Mr. Elliot O. Grosvenor, Dairy and Food Commissioner,
says, "The Dairy and Food Commissioner of the State is charged with
enforcement of the law relating to adulteration of liquors."

As to Illinois, Hon. E. C. Akin, Attorney-General, writes: "It is the
duty of the several State's attorneys to prosecute for violations of
this section, on complaint of any one, or by indictment. There is no
officer charged with the duty of making examinations or tests of
liquors."

As to New York, Hon. Henry H. Lyman, Commissioner of Excise, replies:
"The district attorneys of the several counties in this State have
direct and exclusive control of all criminal prosecutions against
violators of the liquor-tax law, but indirectly the matter of
enforcing this section devolves upon the State Board of Health. By the
provisions of section 42, chapter 661, laws of 1893, the State Board
of Health shall take cognizance of the interests of the public health
as affected by the sale or use of foods and adulterations thereof, and
make all necessary inquiries and investigations relating thereto. It
shall appoint such public analysts, chemists, and inspectors as it may
deem necessary for that purpose, etc. Upon discovering any violations
of the provisions of the act relating to the adulteration of foods or
drugs, the State Board of Health shall immediately communicate the
facts to the district attorney of the county where the violation
occurred, who shall thereupon forthwith commence proceedings for the
indictment of the persons charged with such violations."

To the second question, as to what is held to be adulteration, in
Massachusetts the only standard fixed by law is that of the United
States Pharmacopoeia. Chapter 272, Acts of 1896, undertakes to provide
certain standards. But so far not a single case has been brought under
this act, since it has not been made the duty of any one in particular
to enforce it. The assayer and inspector can only examine such liquors
as are brought to him by the proper officers. He has no authority to
institute proceedings even if he finds the liquor to be badly
adulterated. Such action must be taken by the officers making the
seizure. But Mr. Sharpless writes that, in his opinion, the law
(section 31 of chapter 100 of the public statutes) providing for
taking samples of liquors for analysis contains in its last sentence a
clause which renders it inoperative: it requires such samples to be
paid for if they are found to be of good quality. Mr. Sharpless adds:
"Under this section I have received perhaps on an average twenty
samples a year for the past fifteen years. These samples have
generally been whisky, gin, brandy, and rum. The Legislature has been
repeatedly requested to give the assayer authority to take samples in
the same manner as they are taken by the milk inspector, but has as
uniformly refused to give him that power."

Ohio reports that the legal standard for liquors is the requirements
of the United States Pharmacopoeia.

In Michigan the law does not define any standard for adulteration or
unadulteration. Nor is it left to the mere judgment of any officer.
"In case of prosecution the fact of adulteration would have to be
proved to the satisfaction of the jury by any competent evidence."
This is the language of Mr. Samuel A. Kennedy, Deputy Secretary of
State. Mr. Elliot O. Grosvenor, the Dairy and Food Commissioner,
indicates the nature of the evidence, however, as follows: "If the
word 'standard' can be used in connection with the word
'adulteration,' our law does regulate this standard. We send you under
another cover a copy of the law concerning liquors, so far as within
the jurisdiction of this department, from which you will see we have
little or no discretion in the matter." The clause marked by Mr.
Grosvenor is as follows: "The law relating to liquors seems to be
meant only to prohibit the sale of spirituous or fermented or malt
liquors containing drugs or poisons or substances or ingredients
deleterious or unhealthful; and provides that each barrel, cask, keg,
bottle, or other vessel containing the same shall be branded or
labeled with the words 'Pure and without drugs or poison,' together
with the name of the person or firm preparing the package. This
applies to every package of whatever size--it matters not whether they
are put up for immediate delivery or for stock purpose. This includes
all bottled ale, beer, rum, wine, or other malt or spirituous liquors,
also the bottles used for dispensing over the bar. The State has no
standard of proof, but liquors in packages where proof is indicated
must test to that proof. Compounds containing nothing deleterious or
unhealthful may be sold as cordials. The blending of liquors will be
permitted, if spirits or other ingredients are not added. Dealers
purchasing and receiving goods not properly branded or labeled are not
relieved from any responsibility, if they sell the same without
branding or labeling."

In Illinois the standard is not mentioned, but the articles forbidden
are plainly set forth by the criminal code of the State, which
provides that "whoever adulterates, for the purpose of sale, any
liquor used for drink, with cocculus indicus, vitriol, grains of
paradise, opium, alum, capsicum, copperas, laurel water, logwood,
Brazilwood, cochineal, sugar of lead, or any other substance which is
poisonous or injurious to health; and whoever sells or offers, or
keeps for sale any such liquor so adulterated, shall be confined in
the county jail not exceeding one year, or fined not exceeding one
thousand dollars, or both."

In New York there is a standard fixed for wines, and sections 46, 47,
and 48 of the laws of 1893 are devoted to the definition of pure wine,
half wine, made wine, and the adulteration of wines generally. But
there is no standard of purity enacted for spirituous or malt liquors,
and it is left to the discretion of the inspecting officers whether
any liquors inspected and analyzed by them contain any deleterious
substances.

As to question third, all the States seem to agree that chemical
analysis is the safer, but adulteration seems to be considered by them
all as a fact, to be proved by any competent process, even the taster
not being barred, as he certainly is not by the clause as to
inspection in the State of New York. Mr. Grosvenor, Food Commissioner
of Michigan, however, says that the only test recognized by his
department would be that made in its own laboratory by its own two
chemists.

As to whether the adulteration could be by water only, all our
courteous informants refer us to their answer to the question as to
standards but Ohio, whose Food Commissioner (Blackburn) replies, "Yes,
if the proofage is reduced to less than one hundred degrees." In
Massachusetts, Mr. Sharpless says, "In a case brought a number of
years ago the court refused to consider water as an adulteration; no
recent case has been brought."

As to the fifth and vital question, whether the clause against
adulteration tends to decrease drunkenness, Mr. Sharpless adds the
following valuable record of his experiences as State assayer in a
State which, in thirty years, has experimented with about every known
form of liquor statute: "So far as I have observed, the quality of the
liquor has but little to do with the question of drunkenness. In some
localities where prohibition has been strictly enforced we find that
the class who will have liquor is obtaining it in other than the
well-known commercial forms. Frequently we find that large quantities
of extract of ginger are being consumed. A number of cases have been
brought against the venders of this article, as an alcoholic beverage
containing more than one per cent of alcohol. These cases have
generally proved successful in stopping its sale. Essence of
peppermint and of checkerberry, for example, are favorite tipples.
During the past summer a case was found in which 'So-and-so's Drops,'
a nostrum, a mixture of ether and alcohol, was being used as an
intoxicant. The so-called 'native wines' have given us some trouble.
These are essentially a fermented solution of sugar and water, with
sufficient juice of some fruit for flavoring and color. When made
without the addition of spirits they contain about fourteen per cent
of alcohol. They are generally pretty poor stuff. About two years ago
we had an epidemic of so-called 'malt extracts.' These, with very few
exceptions, were found to be essentially porter. The alcohol in them
averaged about six per cent, and they were quite palatable beverages.
They contained about seven or eight per cent of solid extract.

"It has been several times proposed here that no liquors should be
sold unless their purity was certified to by the State assayer. This I
have uniformly opposed, for the reason that, while the State may well
prohibit the sale of adulterated liquors, it is no part of its
business to certify to the purity of any man's goods; and, unless the
State becomes the sole vender of liquors, it has no means of keeping
track of them.

"It has been my practice during my term of office never to give a
certificate in regard to a liquor to any one but the officers
authorized to ask such a certificate. In other words, the only way a
private person can get an analysis of liquor made by the State assayer
is to take it to the chief of police of his town or city and make a
complaint in regard to it; as the assayer is paid by the State for his
work, it would obviously be wrong for him to do work which he might,
have to revise in his official capacity.... I may perhaps be allowed
to add a few words as to what is defined in this State as an
intoxicating liquor. When the State assayer of liquors was first
appointed he soon became convinced that some limit must be fixed to
the allowable amount of alcohol contained in a liquor. After
consultation this amount was fixed at three per cent by volume at 60°
F. This law remained in force several years. Soon after it was found
that a large amount of beer was being made which contained about 3.5
per cent of alcohol. This was a palatable beer, and the venders gave
the officers much trouble. The regular trade, who were selling lager
beer and ale, and paying for the privilege, were also much opposed to
its sale, and the Legislature was asked to reduce the limit to one per
cent by volume. This at one stroke destroyed a large amount of
illegitimate trade. The Massachusetts law, as it now stands, is that
ale, porter, strong beer, lager beer, cider, all wines, and any
beverage containing more than one per cent of alcohol, by volume, at
60° F., as well as distilled spirits, shall be deemed to be
intoxicating liquor, within the meaning of the license provisions, and
this section of the law has been decided by the Supreme Court of the
Commonwealth to be constitutional.[A] The question is never raised now
in the court as to whether a liquor is actually intoxicating; the only
question being, Does it contain more than one per cent of alcohol? If
it does (and as a matter of fact cases are very rarely brought in
which the sample does not contain at least two per cent of alcohol),
the court has no power except to convict, if it be proved that the
article was kept for sale. The result of this law has been that the
sale of beer, with the idea that it is possible to convince the court
that it is not intoxicating, has entirely stopped. Some few attempts
are made to produce a beverage that shall contain less than one per
cent of alcohol. And several brands are on the market which, when
cold, taste very well, but which contain only about 0.85 per cent of
alcohol. Generally the only test made in regard to liquors is as to
the amount of alcohol that they contain; or, rather, whether the
amount of alcohol exceeds one per cent, that being the maximum amount
that can be sold without a license. Such examination is generally
made by distilling the liquor and determining the alcohol in the
distillate.

     [Footnote A: _Vide_ Commonwealth _vs._ Brelsford, 161 Mass., 61.]

"The whiskies examined have in Massachusetts, as a rule, been free
from any substance more injurious than the alcohol they contain. They
have generally (as well as the other distilled liquors examined) been
of standard strength--that is, they have contained about fifty per
cent of alcohol, and as a rule have not given much over the amount of
residue allowed by the Pharmacopoeia. As you will see by the foregoing
remarks, the provisions of the Massachusetts liquor law, so far as
adulteration is concerned, are practically a dead letter. I have been
repeatedly before the Legislature asking for such modifications of the
law as would enable me to make an intelligent study of the subject;
but it seems satisfied to allow the matter to stand as it now is.
Several difficulties arise in regard to any enforcement of the law.
One of these--that samples must be paid for, and there is no
appropriation to pay for them--I have already pointed out. In the
second place, the State Board of Health (which has full power to
inspect liquors under the food act) has discovered that the chief
adulteration is water in distilled liquors, and that this, together
with a little burned sugar and sirup, is practically the only
adulteration. Large amounts of rectified spirits are used in the
preparation of whiskies for the market, where the whisky is used only
as a flavoring material. But such manufactured whiskies meet the
requirements of the Pharmacopoeia better than the genuine article,
being more free from the higher alcohols and ethers than a pure
whisky. The only point in which they do not agree is that they are not
three years old. But the only method for determining the age of a
liquor that I am acquainted with, is the brand on the barrel. It
certainly can not be determined by any chemical means."

But, with the exception of Massachusetts, where Mr. Sharpless points
out clearly the reason why the law against adulteration is a dead
letter, all the reports speak encouragingly. Michigan, Illinois, and
Ohio believe that the operation of the provision will do genuine good.
Says Food Commissioner Blackburn, of Michigan, "It is my opinion that
this law has and will decrease drunkenness, for the reason that pure
liquor will not create the unnatural appetite that compounded,
adulterated, or artificially prepared liquors do."

The State of Washington sends no report. There is a provision in the
South Carolina law providing that liquors shall be "pure"; but, as the
State is the dispenser of liquors, the operation of this clause has
not been considered exemplary for the purposes of this article. Mr.
Lyman, in New York, thinks that sufficient time has not elapsed to
fully pronounce as to the benefits of the law.

XI and XII. HIGH LICENSE AND LOCAL OPTION.--Certainly the examination
of these statutes and reports of their results in forty-nine States
and Territories leaves it beyond question that so far the very best
results have accompanied the combination of these two provisions.
Perhaps the best example is in the largest of the communities to be
affected--viz., in the State and city of New York. Here, by separating
the plebiscitum or referendum into four local options--viz., (1)
selling liquor to be drunk upon the premises where sold, (2) selling
liquor not to be drunk upon the premises where sold, (3) selling
liquor by apothecaries only on physician's prescription, (4) selling
liquor by license granted to "hotel keepers" only--the result obtained
has been, I think, precisely what I contended for in the paper of five
years age, namely, the value of liquor has been recognized, and its
sale provided for without denying its dangers as a temptation, or the
disastrous effects of drunkenness. To use the exact words of the
commissioner's report: "The tendency is to recognize the propriety of
the sale of liquors by hotels and pharmacists in many communities
where they will not, by their votes, approve the sale by saloons and
groceries; and while there are now twenty less absolutely 'no-license'
towns than when the law took effect, there are very many less saloons
and groceries where liquors are dispensed." And this while not in any
way compromising or dallying with the proposition which the
prohibitionists and temperance societies insist upon (and which is all
they have as a basis for their claims), viz., the consequences of
intoxication and the public policy of its prevention. To show that, as
a fact, an equivalent result has been reached in every State in the
Union where high license and local option are united, would unduly tax
these pages. But one or two prominent examples are of the paradoxical
results--as gratifying as they are paradoxical--that the fewer the
places where liquor is sold the larger the revenue to the State, and
the less the drunkenness, may be cited. In the State of New York in
two years of high license the reduction in selling places was 5,484;
the increase of revenue to the State was $9,094,646.01; the decrease
in the number of arrests was 22,689. In the city of New York alone the
reduction in places was 1,204; the increase of revenue was
$3,549,851.90; the decrease in the arrests for drunkenness was 3,044.
Similar results are reported invariably as the fruit of high license
elsewhere in the United States. In the city of Chicago, under an
exceedingly high license, the reduction in one year was 200 in the
number of saloons, while the increase of revenue was $1,250,000; and
yet the decrease in the number of arrests was 1,217. Contrast this
result with the condition of affairs in the triple-steel-barred
prohibition State of Maine! Says an ex-Mayor of Portland: "I went into
office perfectly free; I think I enforced the law impartially with
all the vigor I could control.... I looked it all over to see what I
had accomplished; I found that I had driven out of the business one
set of men, and another had come in worse than the first. I found that
the young men were establishing club rooms. Not only did they become
drinking places, but they brought in gambling and other vice. While I
was driving liquor out of the ordinary shops I was driving it into
houses and kitchens, where even children dealt in it.... I am sorry to
say it, but the law makes perjury alarmingly common; it opens up ...
an avenue for bribes.[B]

     [Footnote B: Annual Report of the New York State Commissioner of
     Excise, 1897-1898, p. 716, Id.]

"The local authorities could not be trusted to enforce the law. The
price of liquors has been lessened and the quality is worse.... To
those who shunned the open bars the apothecary shops supplied liquor
by the bottle as often as desired.... Then arose pocket peddlers,
young men who loiter about the street supplying customers from the
bottle with a drink known as splits--a concoction of the cheapest
alcohol mixed with a dash of rum and coloring matter, which produces a
dangerous form of intoxication.... At the city agency the question
'Medicine?' and the answer 'Yes,' was quite sufficient, and throngs of
people were constantly waiting with flasks to be filled.... 'Bars,'
'Eating Houses' (so called because protected by the police), 'Kitchen
Bars,' 'Pocket Peddlers,' 'Hotel Bars,' 'Apothecary Shops,' 'Bottling
Houses,' 'Express Companies,' 'Clubs,' and the 'City Agency.'"

But all these, under the very eye of the late Hon. Neal Dow, were
powerless to convince the Hon. Neal Dow that his policy was not a
massive and monumental success, and to the end of his days the good
old man delivered glowing eulogiums upon its exalted benefits to a
suffering and liquor-ridden world!

Among the novel devices among the statutes of States classed as
licensing sales of liquor (or which have rejected prohibition) may be
mentioned the following: Apothecaries may sell without a license if
they keep records of sales. Purchasers of liquor must make affidavit
of the purpose for which they require the liquor. Physicians
prescribing liquors must make affidavit that they are required by the
case they are attending. Public officers who tolerate or refuse to
prosecute are fined. Name of owner of premises where liquors are sold
must be painted in large letters on outside window with the word
"owner" added. A provision that any one may sell liquor, but that the
Legislature may provide in any way it sees fit against "the evils
resulting therefrom." No barmaids, or dancing, gambling, or oil
paintings on premises where liquor is sold. The provisions that
eatables must or must not be sold where liquor is retailed are about
numerically even. (It will be remembered that the New York ["Raines"]
law at first abolished free lunches, but insisted that while one must
not have food with his liquor on week days, he could not on Sundays
have it without--the last provision still being enforced). Similarly,
in some States, liquor dealers must not keep lodging houses, while in
others they must. West Virginia says that a tavern or hotel must not
be used as a liquor-selling establishment only, and that a refusal to
give diet or lodging to any one demanding it will forfeit its license
to sell liquor. One State (Colorado) recognizes the so-called
"gold-cure," and authorizes "the person most interested," or the
county, to send habitual drunkards at county expense to "any
respectable gold-cure institute." In Illinois a drunkard is by law a
vagrant, and drunkenness is a cause for divorce. In Louisiana the
excise man who makes an erroneous estimate of the amount of business
done (Louisiana regulates the liquor business according to sales only,
disclaiming any preventive or reformatory object) is removable from
office. In Tennessee applicants for license must state the amount of
business they intend to do. Kentucky regulates the price of liquors
sold, being the only American State so doing (except that South
Carolina says that the price of a potion shall not be "more than fifty
per cent above," or if used as a medicine "more than ten per cent
above," the cost thereof to the seller--rather a difficult matter to
approximate). Arkansas prohibits sales within three miles of a church,
schoolhouse, or academy. The sales of liquor to Indians is prohibited,
and the exclusive right of army officers to purchase it is conserved,
at the proper frontiers. Texas inserts in her statutes a fine for
keeping a "blind tiger" (defined to be a place "where intoxicating
liquors are sold by any device whereby the party selling or delivering
the same is concealed from the person buying or to whom the same is
delivered"). And, in Kansas, twenty-five reputable women must unite
with twenty-five reputable men in applying for a license to sell
liquor. No State or Territory mentions the size or quantity of liquor
to be sold at any price, as is the European custom.

It would seem, therefore, that, with the exception of the State of
Maine alone, all the American Commonwealths are gradually harking back
to the standpoint of the earliest liquor laws. Moderation (temperance)
in drinking was the public policy. Leaving out the act of the British
Parliament, in the year 1735 (which gave Governor Oglethorpe the right
to prohibit the importation of ardent spirits into Georgia, which was
not a measure to prevent intoxication, but to give a monopoly to
Governor Oglethorpe), the first temperance association was that
founded by Dr. Rush; and it is related that the venerable president,
upon being elected, rose with a glass of brandy in his hand and gave
the toast: "Gentlemen, fill your glasses. Let us show the world that
we know how to drink in moderation."

To sum it all up. Why, since we can not set out with a club or a
headsman's axe to reform mankind; since there are substantial rights
to adjust and innocent parties to protect, why is not the proposition
to prevent by law the exposure of adulterated liquors for sale as
beverages the best so far suggested? Is there another which at the
same time is constitutional, equitable, peaceable, and so conservative
of the public safety, which creates no law-breaking class out of
honest citizens, sheds no blood (as blood was shed in South Carolina
in 1875 because men of Anglo-Saxon breed could not be readily made to
concede that a man's house was not his castle), and which imports no
new doctrine into American policy?

I, for one, believe that, with it, the solution of the drink problem
would be in sight. High license and personal damage laws are two
thirds of it. If a man desires to sell liquor let him pay one or two
thousand dollars, or other substantial sum of money, to the school or
the police or the poor fund of his neighborhood. Let him be liable in
damages, as are common carriers or any others who deal in conveniences
or commodities in which there is possible risk to the community, for
what is injured by his operations. As to the remaining third of the
remedy: the sole objections to local option (viz., that it may be
abused at the polls, where the total-abstinence interest might be as
capable of a wrong use of money or of other undue influence as the
liquor interest, or that it might be inconvenient to the public) are
fully met by making adulteration impossible and providing for a
compulsory, rigid, and universal inspection of liquors exposed for
sale as beverages. And then, besides, it will be unnecessary to burn
down our village to roast our pig.

       *       *       *       *       *

     A curious experiment, at Carnot, in the Congo, is described in
     the journal _Le Chasseur Français_ in the shape of the collection
     and raising of the animals which the natives bring in from the
     bush. Large numbers have been taken in. Some of the animals die,
     some escape. Among those that have stayed are two wild hogs,
     which roam at liberty, eat from the hand, and follow like dogs.
     There are a jackal, mangoustes, small rodents, a company of
     monkeys, and a young tiger cat, "which is the lawgiver to the
     others." None of the animals is confined, except that the jackal
     is tied, though he follows; but it has been necessary to separate
     the guinea-pigs from the rest. A large monkey has assumed the
     office of shepherd's dog, and takes care of the sheep. There are
     also dogs--"good company, but not of much value"--eight horses,
     with a colt that will eat at the table if allowed to; forty
     horned cattle, which are multiplying; and asses, which are also
     increasing.




HAWK LURES.

BY W. E. CRAM.


It is a pretty well known fact among hunters and students of Nature
generally that most flesh-eating animals, whether in fur or feathers,
can be more readily called by imitating the squeaking of mice than in
any other way, and proves conclusively enough that these creatures
depend largely on the sense of hearing in their struggle for a
livelihood.

My first practical illustration of this fact occurred so long ago that
it seems almost like ancient history.

For some reason or other one summer's vacation began some six hours
earlier than was expected, and although apparently insignificant
enough when compared with the entire three months that were to follow,
that extra half holiday was probably valued out of all due proportion
by the pupils, owing to its unexpectedness, and for that reason,
perhaps, more than any other, is still recalled by one at least as
distinctly as ever.

One of the boys had a contrivance known as a bird-call--a simple
instrument of wood and some soft metal--that, on being turned,
produced noises that bore not the slightest resemblance to the cries
of any bird, but were not entirely unlike the squeaking of a mouse in
distress.

Some of us were more or less skeptical as to its powers of attracting
birds, and decided to put it to the test. So we loafed about under the
apple trees working the thing for all it was worth, but no birds came
about us, and the bird-call was in danger of being thrown away in
disgrace, when a small brown beast appeared from under a pile of
boards and came running toward us, till suddenly scenting danger it
disappeared. There was some discussion at the time whether it was a
rat, chipmunk, or red squirrel; none had seen it very clearly or could
give any very definite description of it, but in all probability it
was a weasel attracted by what it supposed to be the voice of its
accustomed prey.

About halfway between that time and the present a young long-eared owl
became an important member of our family, a most original and amusing
bird, without the slightest fear of any of us. He was christened
Mephistopheles.

[Illustration: MEPHISTOPHELES.]

As he was learning to fly, it seemed advisable that he should be
taught to come at our call to be fed; and accordingly one day, by way
of experiment, I held out a piece of meat to him and squeaked like a
mouse. There was a rush of downy pinions, and his talons were neatly
arranged about my lips. He was evidently a good deal excited, but was
careful not to hurt me any more than was absolutely necessary in order
to secure the mouse which he fancied he had cornered in my mouth. I
was just reckless enough to try it again on the following day as he
perched on the low branch of an apple tree. His power of detecting the
direction whence the sound came proved fully equal to the occasion,
and the result was the same as in the first instance. The end of
Mephisto was tragic in the extreme. He was sometimes fastened by a
linen cord six or eight feet long and as large as a lead pencil, which
when not in use was hung across the perch where he slept. Evidently he
felt that the food furnished him was too effeminate, for the powerful
stomachs of all birds of prey require a certain amount of such
indigestible matter as hair, feathers, or bone to keep them in good
condition. So one ill-fated night, in looking about for something that
would answer that purpose, he unfortunately hit upon the cord as a
substitute, and proceeded to swallow one end of it. The first few feet
must have fully satisfied his cravings, but there was the rest to be
disposed of, and the most feasible method that presented itself
naturally was to go on swallowing. The thing must have grown extremely
dry and distasteful as inch after inch disappeared, still there was
nothing for it but to go on, which he did. In the morning he was
strangely silent and gloomy, with hardly a foot of cord protruding
from his beak. Any attempt on our part to remove the cord proved not
only fruitless but painful, so it was cut off close to his beak,
whereupon he swallowed what remained in his mouth and looked relieved.
His meal proved too much for him, however, and he only lived a few
days after it.

The different species of hawks vary greatly as regards the readiness
with which they may be called--most of them, in fact, absolutely
refusing to be lured in any way. As might be expected from its habits,
the marsh hawk is the most susceptible, and in still weather may be
brought from a distance of one hundred yards or more. At the first
squeak he wheels about in the air and comes directly toward you with
most unexpected impetuosity and swiftness. His discomposure on
discovering the fraud is usually most amusing, as he stops short in
mid air, with wings and legs asprawl, and turning his back on you,
hurries off in feverish haste.

The red-tailed and red-shouldered hawks are also easily attracted in
this manner, but the rough-legged hawks, although they live almost
entirely on mice, are not so readily deceived, though this is
undoubtedly owing more to their extreme wariness than to any dullness
of hearing on their part.

None of the falcons or short-winged hawks pay the slightest attention
to the most lifelike squeaking, so that evidently when they do deign
to attack such ignoble quarry as a field mouse they depend more on
their eyesight than on the sense of hearing. One still October day the
red-tailed hawks were soaring and screaming above the pines beneath
which I was hidden; by mimicking their cries I enticed one of them
nearer and nearer, till at last he closed his wings and alighted bolt
upright on a dead stump not fifty feet away. Changing my tactics, I
endeavored to convince the hawk that a family quarrel was in progress
among the mice in the thick clump of pines below him, and was rewarded
by seeing him turn first one keen eye and then the other on my place
of concealment; then he leaned forward and crouched catlike on his
perch, half opening his broad wings and shifting his feet about in his
impatience. But he evidently desired more positive evidence than his
ears could give him before making the final dash for his breakfast.
There was a slender dead branch beside me, and cautiously taking this,
I shoved it slowly along under the carpet of pine needles out into the
opening, as one sometimes amuses a kitten with a pencil beneath the
tablecloth. The instant the hawk's eye caught the movement of the pine
needles he descended with a whir almost to the point of seizing the
stick in his claws; then, catching sight for the first time of the
author of his disappointment, he rose flapping into the air, shrieking
out his anger to the skies. If we had been more evenly matched in
weight, I fear I should have suffered the most extreme punishment for
my deceit.

The northern shrike is generally given the credit of living to a
certain extent on mice, but the only evidence pointing in that
direction that I have ever seen is that, like the mouse-eating hawks
and owls, he comes quickly enough to the call; nor is there any need
of concealment when dealing with this bird. He will come fearlessly
within a few yards of you, hopping and flying from twig to twig, with
his long tail continually moving up and down in his excitement,
apparently impelled more by motives of curiosity than hunger.

[Illustration: NORTHERN SHRIKE.]

But when it comes to calling up to you such shy creatures as the mink
or fox the utmost caution is necessary, for although lacking the
keenness of eyesight possessed by birds, the acuteness of their sense
of smell and hearing is something marvelous; yet when conditions are
favorable they may sometimes be brought quite close and studied to
advantage.

Standing one day beside an old tumble-down rail fence that ran along
between the woods and salt marshes, half hidden in the brambles and
tall grass, I caught the merest glimpse of a mink slipping along
between the bottom rails. As he was evidently unaware of my presence,
I determined to see more of him, and squeaked in as mouselike a manner
as possible, and quickly had the satisfaction of seeing him make his
appearance on a projecting stake much nearer than when I had first
seen him. Stretching himself along the stake, he appeared to listen
and look in my direction, but although I was standing in plain sight
on the edge of the marsh hardly a rod away, the fact that he was
obliged to look directly into the sun made it quite impossible for him
to clearly distinguish what he saw. At the end of a few moments he
dropped into the grass and started in my direction, the trembling
grass blades clearly indicating his progress as he approached nearer
and nearer, until almost at my feet he vanished, and, in spite of the
most patient waiting on my part, absolutely refused to show himself
again.

The last instance of the kind that has come under my notice happened
on a clear moonlight night as I was wheeling along a lonely road
between old apple orchards. Some part of the machine squeaked at
intervals in a way that might possibly have been mistaken for a mouse.
At all events, an owl appeared to have been deceived thereby, for he
came flapping out of the orchard and flew alongside, at times coming
quite close and again swinging off into the shadow, till at last,
convinced that his supper lay not in that direction, he put on fresh
speed and left me far behind. Perhaps he would have done as he did if
the bicycle had not squeaked, but, judging from his behavior, I am
inclined to think otherwise.




THE MILK SUPPLY OF CITIES.

BY PROF. H. W. CONN.


The ever-growing needs of civilized communities constantly demand new
methods. At the time when the streets of Boston may have been the
actual cow paths which we are sometimes told they represent, the milk
problem did not exist. Every farmer owned his cows, and if some of the
people in the small communities did not happen to own a cow there were
plenty of these animals in their neighborhood to furnish them with
milk. But as our cities have grown the farmer has been pushed back
farther and farther into the country, while the demand for milk in the
cities has been constantly increasing. The man of the city can no
longer call upon his neighbor for milk, but must depend upon some
unknown farmer living perhaps many miles away. In England the farmer
still lives somewhat close to the city, and as soon as one passes the
city limits he begins to find the fields and meadows covered with
cows. London and Berlin draw their immense milk supply chiefly from a
radius of seventy-five miles. In the United States, however, the
farmer does not live so close to the cities, and the demand for milk
is even greater than in Europe. Our cities must therefore depend upon
a wider range of territory. New York draws its milk from a radius of
some three hundred miles. It is easy to see that with such conditions
many new problems have arisen. These problems, so far as they concern
the obtaining of a sufficient quantity and the transportation and
preservation of the milk, have, from a business standpoint, been
pretty satisfactorily solved. The milk-supply companies succeed in
obtaining a sufficient supply at all seasons of the year, and get it
into the city in such a manner that when delivered to the consumer,
even though it be forty-eight hours old, it is in tolerably good
condition. But it is beginning to appear that the problem, as concerns
the consumer, is a somewhat serious one, and that this problem has not
yet been solved, nor is it likely to be solved unless the consumer
himself takes a direct interest in it.

The problem of the milk supply in the smaller cities is quite
different from that of our larger cities. In the smaller cities, even
those with populations of one hundred thousand, there may be commonly
found a number of milkmen who bring into the city the milk from their
own farms and personally distribute it. Such a business is a small
one, and the dealer and the producer may be held directly responsible
for the quality of the milk. In large cities, however, the business is
very different. The individual milk dealer who brings in milk from his
own farm has almost disappeared, and his place is supplied by the
milk-supply companies that control the product from hundreds of farms
and regulate the large part of the milk which the city consumes. These
companies send milk trains into the country in all directions, and
collect milk from thousands of farms. The milk is brought into the
city in cars in which it is cooled by ice. It may be already many
hours old when it reaches the city. It is taken from the cars, and the
milk from many different sources is mixed in large mixers to insure
greater uniformity. It is again packed in ice, and remains thus until
the individual dealer is ready to put it into his cart and distribute
it through the city to the customer.

As a result of this the customer no longer knows whence his milk
comes. If he is a citizen of New York, he may receive milk from his
own State, or Connecticut, or Pennsylvania, or New Jersey. It may come
from a thrifty farmer, or from a slovenly, filthy farm, or, for all
that the consumer knows, it may come in part from a farm where there
is a contagious epidemic. There is no method of tracing
responsibility, no method of even knowing the source of any lot of
milk. One morning we may receive milk from northern New York, and the
next from New Jersey. One morning, for all he knows, it may come from
a model dairy farm, and the next from the most unhygienic surroundings
imaginable.

But this is to a certain extent true of other foods. We can not tell
where our flour or meat comes from, or our apples or sugar. Why should
we be more disturbed over milk than other foods? Indeed, until
recently we have had no especial interest in the milk problem, and
have taken milk as it has been offered without question, except as to
its being pure milk unadulterated with water. But the rapid
discoveries of bacteriology, which have shown milk to be such a good
locality for bacterial growth, have been raising some very significant
questions. We have been told of the countless millions of bacteria
which we have been drinking daily. This has somewhat disturbed us, and
no sooner have we become reconciled to this idea than we are told of
the great amount of filth that finds its way into milk--two hundred
pounds of cow dung being the daily ration of New York city, some one
tells us. The matter appears more serious still when we are told by
the public press that there are more bacteria in city milk than in
city sewage, and are informed of the epidemics of typhoid which are
distributed by milk, or of the prevalence of tubercle bacteria in this
food product. We become suspicious of the milk supply and hesitate to
use this food product or to give it to our children.

Naturally, the people in small communities feel somewhat more at ease
in the matter since they know their milk producer and can hold him
responsible. But it is questionable whether the milk supply of the
large city is not more reliable. The milk supply in the city is
handled by organizations, and these, on the whole, are rather more
likely to exercise care in the treatment of the milk than are the
small dealers. The advantage of handling the matter through companies
is well shown in many European cities. In the large cities of England
and the continent the milk business is commonly handled by concerns
that distribute great quantities daily. Now, many of these companies
deal with the subject in a very intelligent manner. They exercise a
very considerable control over the individual dairy farms. Some of
them keep inspectors traveling constantly among the farms, spending
$10,000 to $15,000 yearly in such inspections. They will receive no
milk from a farm until after an inspector has visited it and looked
into the hygienic conditions of the dairy, even sometimes going so far
as to make an analysis of the water used in the dairy. Only after such
inspection has been declared favorable is the milk received in the
city. These inspections are repeated monthly. The appearance of a
contagious disease on the farm is noted at once and the milk no longer
received, although still paid for. These companies employ chemists and
bacteriologists to study the character of the milk received. They
educate their men into their business, and consequently employ more
intelligent help than small concerns can. They can furnish a more
uniform product than can be expected of smaller dealers. They soon
acquire a reputation for their milk, which they are very careful to
preserve. Such firms can exercise a much more satisfactory control
over the individual farmer than can even public statute, since, with
their systems of inspection, it is possible to have an accurate
knowledge of the actual conditions under which the milk is produced.
It is plainly within the power of firms dealing in large quantities to
control the character of its milk more accurately than can small
dealers.

Results, too, appear on the whole in favor of the large dealers. In
the cities where there is a system of rigid milk inspection it is
comparatively seldom that the milk furnished by such companies is
found below the standard. This milk is kept up to the standard, and
the companies having a chemical laboratory and having milk from many
sources can keep the quality of the milk much more uniform than can a
dealer whose supply comes from a single farm. The milk inspectors
usually find that it is the small dealers that fail to meet the
standard. Moreover, it is a fact that where epidemics have been traced
to milk it has always been in communities where individual milkmen
bring in milk from one or two dairies and distribute it personally.
All the epidemics of typhoid that have been definitely traced to milk
have been in small communities, and none traced to the milk of large
dealers. It is true that it would be difficult or impossible to trace
to the milk a typhoid epidemic which might occur in a large city. No
one is likely to receive the milk from the same source for two days in
succession, and the mixing which the milk receives in the receiving
station entirely obliterates the individual source. If there should be
some milk brought to the city which contained typhoid bacteria it
would be impossible to determine the fact, for such milk, after
mixing, would be thoroughly scattered beyond any possibility of
following it. We may, then, question somewhat the significance of the
fact, but it certainly is true that while serious epidemics have been
caused by milk in smaller cities no such instance has occurred in the
large cities, or been traced to the milk furnished by companies that
handle it in considerable amounts. It would seem that if milk has ever
been the cause of such diseases in large cities there ought to have
been some evidence of the fact obtained.

It is probable, therefore, that the small community can hardly feel
itself any better off in regard to the milk supply than the larger
city. It is, of course, easier to trace responsibility for bad milk if
we know where it comes from, but it is less likely to be very bad if
it comes from a large number of sources and is thoroughly mixed. The
milk in the large city is perhaps forty-eight hours old when it is
received by the consumer. But it has been kept on ice, has perhaps
been filtered, and many of its bacteria may have been killed by the
long-continued cold temperature. So far as concerns the bacteria
question, our milk which is thus two days old, appears to be actually
superior to milk delivered in European cities, which is only a few
hours old. The free use of ice in our milk car produces a more
favorable result than the more rapid handling which the milk receives
in Europe. The milk company controlling a large territory, with great
resources at its command, can put into practice rules which even
public statute can not enforce, and which the individual farmer will
rarely do by himself. One who is acquainted with the methods of
handling milk in our cities finds that the companies are each year
improving their methods, and that the milk is in most places becoming
more reliable. The proper solution of the milk supply for our
communities is in the formation of large companies, provided they are
managed partly for the benefit of the public and not wholly for
money-making.

There is little question that the public has become somewhat
suspicious of milk, and that many hesitate to drink it as freely as in
earlier years. This suspicion is more pronounced in Europe than in the
United States. Upon the continent of Europe the amount of milk which
is used raw is really very small, and apparently its use in this
condition is destined to cease. The younger generation of physicians
are now being taught that raw milk is a dangerous food, and in some
countries even the children in the schools are being taught that it is
not safe to drink raw milk. Such teaching can have only one result,
and that is the reduction in the amount of milk consumed. Much less
milk is used in Europe than in this country. It is used for tea or
coffee or for cooking, and of course for infant feeding, but for any
one to drink milk as we do in this country is certainly a rarity. The
suspicion under which milk has been placed has decreased its use.

The dangers which are feared in milk are of course connected with the
distribution of disease. Most persons who thus hesitate to use milk
have simply a vague fear, without knowing just what is to be feared.
When we put together all the facts in our possession we find that
there is good reason for believing that milk is sometimes concerned in
the distribution of the following well-known diseases and some obscure
ones: The first is _tuberculosis_, which is a disease attacking the
cow, and, if located in the mammary gland, may infect the milk with
tubercle bacilli, and may subsequently produce the disease in the
person who drinks the milk. It should be stated, however, that there
is good reason for believing that the danger from this source has been
overrated. Second, we have _diphtheria_, which apparently may also
attack the cow. The diphtheria germs may get into the milk from the
cow, and they certainly do get into the milk occasionally from
secondary sources. _Scarlet fever_ apparently is distributed by milk,
though whether this disease may come from the cow or only by secondary
contamination of the milk is not yet positively settled. _Typhoid
fever_ has in a large number of cases been traced to the milk supply.
This disease, however, does not occur in the cow, and the germs always
get into the milk from a secondary source, such as water or contact
with a person who has the disease. _Cholera_ may be distributed by
milk, but this is of course of little importance. Of these disease
bacteria, the tubercle bacillus probably never grows in milk, while
the typhoid and diphtheria germs do. The most common of all troubles
attributed to milk are those somewhat obscure _intestinal diseases_
which attack people especially in the summer months, and are
particularly common among children. Prominent among these stands
_cholera infantum_. These latter troubles, according to our present
knowledge, are not produced by distinct species of bacteria finding
entrance into the body and growing there, as are the other diseases
mentioned. They appear to be produced by bacterial poisons which are
in the milk. The bacteria--probably several different varieties--grow
in the milk and there give rise to certain poisonous products, and
these, when taken into the stomach, produce the diarrhoeal diseases
referred to.

The question of more importance is, however, as to the extent of the
danger from such causes. This question is much like the famous one of
how large is a piece of chalk. There is danger in everything, even in
drinking water and breathing air. Is the danger from milk so great as
to suggest that we should give up our habit of drinking milk as they
have largely done in Europe, or is this danger so slight that we can
well afford to neglect it? We can not avoid all sources of disease
even if we would. To do this we should need to shut ourselves up in a
box, breathe nothing but sterilized air, drink nothing but sterilized
water, and come in contact with no other person, to say nothing of
wearing sterilized clothes. Such a method will produce physical
weakness rather than vigor. We have learned in the last few years that
the proper way of avoiding disease is rather by preparing ourselves to
resist it rather than try to avoid all contact with possible disease
germs. The question is significant, then, whether the danger from milk
is so great that we should use every means of avoiding it; or is it
one of the slight dangers which we may best class with the everyday
incidents against which our proper guard should be simply vigorous
health?

It is impossible to say how great is the liability of contracting
disease from milk. Sometimes the subject looms up before us in
gigantic proportions. When our papers are describing the occurrence of
hundreds of cases of typhoid fever in a city, all traced to a milk
supply, the seriousness of the problem is very apparent, and very
likely we stop drinking milk for a season. But when, on the other
hand, we remember the millions of people that are drinking milk daily
without injury, and remember that our forefathers have done the same,
we grow graver and begin again our old custom. No one can, indeed,
pretend to say how great the danger is. That it is greater than that
from drinking water is pretty clear. That it is less than that of
riding in the cars is probably equally true. That it is greater in a
small community than a large one seems probable, and that there is a
greater likelihood of its being serious where the milk comes from a
single source than where it passes through the hands of a milk-supply
company appears to the author to be quite sure.

In his relation to this problem each person must decide for himself.
We do not cease to ride in the cars because there is danger here, nor
do the innumerable accidents from bicycling deter us from this
pleasure. Ought we to give up milk because of an occasional instance
of disease? It might be possible to give advice to use milk freely,
looking upon the danger as a slight one and one of the unavoidable
dangers of living, but if such advice is given some one will instantly
declare it bad advice. It might be possible to advise boiling all milk
before drinking, and again some authority would say that this is
unnecessary and bad. Personally, the author, though living in a small
community, uses raw milk with perfect freedom, but would regard it as
unwise to allow young children, especially infants, to use it in this
way.

As already stated, the agitation over the milk supply is greater in
Europe than in this country. While in England milk is used much as in
this country, on the continent really little milk is drunk raw, and
there is a growing demand for some means which shall deprive milk of
the suspicions attached to it. This demand has been rapidly growing in
recent years, and has resulted in the appearance of two new
industries. These are the preparation of _sterilized_ and
_Pasteurized_ milk. Neither of these industries has as yet developed
much in the United States, although in our larger cities beginnings
are being made along similar lines.

_Sterilized_ milk has been used for many years. Long ago our doctors
learned to recommend, for invalids, that milk should be boiled before
drinking. This was done before the matter of its relation to bacteria
was understood, and when physicians simply conceived that the boiling
rendered the milk more digestible. From being used by invalids it came
to be suggested in feeding infants, and then, after the relation of
milk to possible disease germs had been understood, the general
sterilization of milk was widely recommended. The process of
sterilization of milk has not taken much of a hold upon the people of
this country as yet, nor has it in England. In continental Europe,
especially in northern countries, where the amount of tuberculosis is
very large, it has made rapid headway, and now in most of the cities
sterilized milk can be bought on the streets just as easily as
ordinary milk.

In sterilizing milk as it is done in Europe the destruction of the
disease germs is not the only purpose. An object of perhaps equal
weight is to produce a milk that will keep. There are many
circumstances where it is desirable to carry milk for long distances,
and to lay in a supply to last many days or even weeks. Under these
circumstances sterilization is resorted to, since it preserves the
milk.

There are various methods of sterilizing milk. The simplest, and
doubtless the most common, is simply the boiling of the milk. This can
easily be done by any one at home, and is, beyond question, very
widely resorted to. But where the sterilization is to be performed by
a public-supply company, boiling is not satisfactory, since the milk,
although it will keep some time, is not indefinitely preserved. The
common method used is heating with superheated steam. The milk is
placed in bottles of special device, holding about a pint or a quart,
and are placed, hundreds at a time, in a large chamber which can be
hermetically sealed and then filled with steam under pressure. Here
the temperature rises to 102° to 106° C. (216° to 220° F.), and is
retained here for some little time. This high heat is supposed to kill
all the living bacteria that may be in the milk, even the resisting
spores being commonly destroyed. While the milk is still in this
apparatus, and before the chamber is opened, the bottles are sealed by
a mechanical contrivance and then allowed to cool. After this they are
taken out of the sterilizer, and are ready for distribution. The milk
thus treated is sometimes pure white, although frequently it has
acquired a brownish color, which is not enticing to one accustomed to
ordinary milk. Moreover, it has a taste of cooked milk, which is to
some people very unpleasant. But when the method is successful the
milk contains no living bacteria, and may now be kept indefinitely
without further change. It may be shipped to all parts of the world,
and whenever opened it will be found still sweet. The process is
evidently equivalent to the canning of fruit or meat, only more
difficult because the milk commonly contains many resisting spores.

Such sterilized milk can be bought almost anywhere in Europe, and
there is undoubtedly a growing demand for it. Where this or other
sterilized milk is used it is claimed that very favorable results
follow. Careful statistics have been collected as to the number of
deaths among infants from diarrhoeal diseases, and it is found that in
some cities the deaths from infants fed upon raw milk are nearly three
times as great as among those fed upon sterilized milk. Of course, no
typhoid epidemics can ever be traced to such milk, and in general its
use seems to meet with decided favor.

There are, however, some serious objections to this method of treating
milk, which have been and probably will continue to be sufficient to
prevent its wide extension. The first is that such milk appears to be
slightly less digestible than raw milk. Over this matter, however,
there has been and still is a great diversity of opinion, and many
claim that there is really no difference in the digestibility. It is a
matter of comparatively little importance, however, at least for
adults and healthy children, for the sterilized milk can be digested,
and the slight difference in ease of digestion probably has little
significance unless it be for weakly individuals. Secondly, the taste
of the sterilized milk is that of boiled milk, and this is rather
unpleasant to most people. Probably a majority of our people, if
called upon to drink sterilized milk or none at all, would prefer to
give it up entirely. This is really an almost insurmountable obstacle
to the wide extension of the use of sterilized milk, at least for the
present generation. Those who have accustomed themselves to the taste
of raw milk will not drink sterilized milk, and, if they do not dare
to drink it raw, will not drink it at all. If infants are brought up
on sterilized milk the next generation may look upon the matter
differently, since the taste can be cultivated.

The third objection to sterilized milk is its cost, which pretty
effectually prevents its wide use. Here is probably the real reason
why the sterilized-milk industry has not extended more rapidly than it
has. The cost of the milk that has been subjected to the treatment
above described is considerably above that of ordinary milk, and the
size of the pocketbook is commonly a matter outweighing, with most
people, even matters of health. When raw milk can be purchased at half
the price of sterilized milk, or even for a cent or two less, it will
be purchased almost uniformly by the bulk of people, rather than the
more expensive sterilized milk. Thus it happens that, in spite of the
fact that sterilized milk can be purchased easily in most European
cities, the business is not a large one. Probably not one quart of
sterilized milk is sold to a hundred quarts of raw milk, even in
cities where the business is best developed.

There are some who think that this method of treating milk is soon to
be recognized as a necessity, and that it will be shortly regarded as
improper to drink raw milk as it is to eat raw pork. But the business
has grown rather slowly. Most people prefer to purchase their milk raw
at a cheaper price and then boil it themselves, if they do not forget
it. There is, moreover, one rather serious criticism that is made
against this sterilized milk. Even with the high temperature that is
used, it is impossible to be sure that all bacteria spores are
destroyed. In most cases they are killed, but occasionally, and indeed
not infrequently, a lot of milk will contain resisting spores that the
heat does not destroy. These few spores that are left may become
serious, far more so than the bacteria in raw milk. After
sterilization they begin to grow, and, since this milk is very
commonly kept for many days before it is used, these germs have a
chance to become very abundant in the milk and to produce profound
chemical changes therein, in some cases actually developing poisons.
The changes that thus occur may be such as to escape notice with the
eye, since they do not curdle the milk, and they may even fail to
affect the taste of the milk. Such milk is to all appearances good,
and would be given to infants without hesitation. If it did contain
the injurious products thus referred to the results would be serious.
Some bacteriologists are convinced that not a few cases of serious
sickness have been produced in this way. When the milk is used shortly
after the sterilization this matter is of no importance, since the
bacteria spores grow slowly. But sterilized milk is supposed to keep
indefinitely, and is therefore likely to be preserved some time before
using, giving abundant opportunity for these spores to grow.

For these several reasons there is developing a different method of
dealing with the problem. It is the well-known process of
_Pasteurization_. But although the process has been known for several
years, its application to the milk business on a large scale is quite
new. Pasteurization consists in heating the milk to a temperature of
only about 68° to 85° C. (165° to 185° F.), leaving it at this
temperature for a short time, and then rapidly cooling. The length of
time required depends upon the temperature used, being, of course,
shortest for the higher temperature, but it varies from some two
minutes to half an hour. This moderate heat does not necessarily
produce the cooked taste nor, as we shall see, does it involve an
expense which need raise the price. The temperature, however, is not
sufficient to destroy all bacteria, and for this reason is looked upon
with disfavor by those who feel that what is needed is an absolute
destruction of all bacteria. The Germans, who like to do things
thoroughly, do not take readily to Pasteurization, and there are
others besides Germans who insist that this treatment does not make
the milk safe. But if one is looking for practical possibilities
rather than theoretical success, there is perhaps at present more to
be said in favor of Pasteurization than sterilization.

Pasteurization is found to be sufficient to destroy all the strictly
pathogenic bacteria that are likely to be in milk. The germs of
diphtheria and typhoid are killed, and even the tubercle bacillus is
rendered innocuous by a few moments at a temperature of 75° C. The
resisting spores above mentioned are of course not destroyed, and many
other bacteria are left uninjured. But the bacteria which escape the
heat are not strictly pathogenic, and do not grow in the body. If they
produce any injury to the drinker it is because they grow in the milk
and produce injurious chemical products there. They are only
dangerous, therefore, after they have had an opportunity to grow in
the milk for some time. This opportunity they do have, as we have
seen, in sterilized milk, but they do not have the opportunity in
Pasteurized milk. Pasteurized milk is not designed for keeping, and
those who use it know that while the strictly pathogenic bacteria are
killed the milk will not keep. It will remain sweet a little longer
than raw milk, but it must be used at once. It must be treated just
like fresh milk. Under these conditions the bacteria do not commonly
have an opportunity of growing sufficiently to produce their poisonous
products before the milk is consumed. Practically, then, these
bacteria that resist the moderate heat of Pasteurization are of no
serious importance in connection with the healthfulness of milk.
Pasteurized milk has been deprived of all its strictly pathogenic
bacteria, and the germs still left will commonly have no opportunity
to grow very much before the milk is consumed. It is therefore the
confident belief of many that Pasteurization is actually a safer
method of treating milk than sterilization. Moreover, the results
appear to be equally favorable, for Pasteurization is claimed to
produce an effect upon diarrhoeal diseases equal to that of
sterilization.

But the most important argument for Pasteurization seems to be that it
is really practical, and can be introduced upon a scale vastly more
extended than can sterilized milk. The practice of Pasteurizing milk
has doubtless been followed not a little by private families, but from
the very outset it has appeared that the proper method of dealing with
the matter is to treat the milk at a general distributing center,
rather than to depend upon the consumer to do it. Not a few devices
have been suggested for accomplishing the purpose satisfactorily and
rapidly. The machines invented are planned upon two different
principles. In one plan the milk is placed in some large vessel
holding many gallons and is here heated, commonly by steam coils. It
is allowed to remain here at the desired temperature for twenty
minutes to half an hour, and is then cooled. This method is
necessarily slow--so slow, indeed, that it is impractical for use
where large amounts of milk must be treated rapidly for general
distribution. It probably could not be used for the milk supply of a
city. The other method is called that of continuous flow. Here the
milk is allowed to flow continuously over a heated surface, which
brings it quickly to the desired temperature. It is kept hot for only
a short time, however, and it then flows over a cooled surface, where
the temperature is brought down again and the milk is finally
delivered from the machine in a continuous stream of cooled milk.
Great objections have been urged against this process, from the fact
that it is not thorough. The milk is retained at the high temperature
for such a short time that many of the bacteria are not killed. The
Pasteurization is decidedly less thorough than by the other method.
But here, again, before condemning the process it is necessary to
consider its purpose. If it is to destroy all the bacteria, or as
large a number of them as is possible, it is of course unsatisfactory.
If, however, the purpose is to treat the milk cheaply and rapidly in
such a manner as to remove the danger of disease distribution
through, the milk supply, it would appear that such a method is
perhaps satisfactory.

So far as can be determined, this method is efficient in destroying
pathogenic bacteria. Its efficiency is of course dependent upon the
length of time that the milk is retained at the high temperature, and
this can be regulated by the rate of the flow of the milk through the
machine. All evidence we have seems to point to the conclusion that a
temperature of 75° C., continued for a few minutes only, so far
destroys or weakens the pathogenic bacteria which are liable to be
found in milk that they need not subsequently be feared as producing
disease. Of course, there are pathogenic bacteria that are not
destroyed by this temperature, but they are not likely to occur in
milk. The germs of typhoid, diphtheria, and tuberculosis are probably
rendered harmless by such treatment, and these are the chief
pathogenic bacteria of milk. Moreover, the other bacteria are very
greatly decreased in numbers, so that the dangers of intestinal
troubles are at least much reduced. In hospitals where Pasteurization
has been adopted the results are as favorable as with sterilization.

The great value of this plan is, however, that it is practical on a
large scale. In Copenhagen it has been in practice for some three
years very extensively. In Denmark the amount of tuberculosis among
cows is very great, somewhat more than half the animals suffering from
this disease. As a result the public milk supply is regarded with more
suspicion than in countries where the disease is less. It is
everywhere recommended that the milk be always boiled before using,
but the bother of treating the milk thus daily makes people unwilling
to do it, and it is doubtful whether the practice is as common as the
physicians think necessary. Some three years ago a company was
organized to meet the public demand for safe milk, and it has adopted
plans by which it furnishes Pasteurized milk on a scale as extensive
as that of the ordinary milk-supply companies. The company has devised
and manufactured two large machines which receive the milk, Pasteurize
it, and cool it in a constant stream, and are capable of treating two
thousand quarts an hour. The milk received by the company is tested
chemically and filtered, and then allowed to pass through one of these
large machines. After this it is placed in glass bottles and sealed
with the company's seal. The heating is done by steam, and the cooling
by brine cooled by an ammonia cooling machine. The greatest care is
taken in cleaning and sterilizing the bottles, an enormous chamber
some twenty feet long and six feet in diameter being used for a
sterilizer. Into this the washed bottles are placed, the chamber
hermetically closed, and then superheated steam is turned in upon
them. Everything connected with the establishment is conducted with
the greatest attention to cleanliness, and upon a very large scale.
The bottled milk is subsequently distributed in ordinary milk carts. A
bacteriologist is constantly testing the efficiency of the machines by
bacteriological examinations of the Pasteurized milk.

The most important feature in this undertaking is that the company
furnishes the city with milk at the same price as that furnished by
the other companies without Pasteurization. It seems strange that this
can be done, for the Pasteurization of course costs something. But the
explanation is essentially that heat is cheaper than cold. Because of
the subsequent Pasteurization this company does not feel it necessary
to demand that the milk should reach them in as cool a condition as is
required by the other companies. While their business rivals insist
that they shall receive milk not warmer than 4° C., this Pasteurizing
company receives it as warm as 10° C., and this saving in the cooling
largely pays for the Pasteurization. The mechanical bottling enables
them to employ a cheaper grade of help than is necessary when the milk
is peddled in carts.

The results of this endeavor to furnish safe milk are in quite decided
contrast to those connected with sterilized milk. Sterilized milk has
now been on the market for quite a number of years, but, in spite of
the fact that it can be readily bought in most cities, the actual
business is small. The largest milk-supply company in Europe has a
demand for only a few hundred quarts per day. This company in
Copenhagen offers to the public a milk which has the taste of fresh
milk and which has been so treated as to have all pathogenic bacteria
within it destroyed, and at the same time the other bacteria greatly
reduced in number. This milk it sells at the same price as ordinary
milk. As a result its business has rapidly grown, and instead of
supplying a few hundred quarts it sells some thirty thousand daily,
and the amount of milk handled is increasing with great rapidity. It
probably sells more Pasteurized milk than all the sterilized milk sold
in Europe.

It would thus seem that we have here actually a practical method of
dealing with the new problem of the milk supply. That it is practical
is manifest from the actual results in this institution in Copenhagen.
Whether it is regarded as satisfactory will of course depend upon our
standpoint. Those that insist that the milk must be freed from all
danger, and hence deprived of all bacteria, will not regard this
method as satisfactory. But probably every one will recognize that
milk thus treated is very much safer than raw milk, and that dangers
from typhoid epidemics and tuberculosis are removed, even if they do
not admit that intestinal troubles are thus avoided.

There can be little doubt that the method would be successful in our
own cities, but its success would depend upon the price at which the
milk is sold. If the Pasteurized milk is sold for a price much higher
than ordinary milk it will not be a commercial success, for the vast
majority of people prefer to save the one or two cents per quart, and
run the rather slight risk of trouble from the milk. If it can be sold
in our cities, as in Copenhagen, for the same price or a price only
slightly higher than that of ordinary milk, it is hardly doubtful that
it would soon come into favor, for who would not prefer milk that is
safe from disease germs if the price is the same? Already there are a
few attempts in this direction in some of our cities, but as yet they
are only in the beginning stage. Whether they will develop to a wide
extent depends probably almost wholly upon the price at which the milk
can be sold.

It would appear, then, that this method of Pasteurization by a central
company offers the most hopeful solution of this feature of the
problem which is growing with the growth of cities. The milk companies
could probably arrange, without great expense, such a plan of
Pasteurizing large amounts of milk. This only emphasizes the
conclusion, already reached, that the most hopeful method of dealing
with the problem in our cities is through properly organized companies
that can handle milk on a large scale, and will do it conscientiously,
and not wholly from the standpoint of money-making.




TEACHERS' SCHOOL OF SCIENCE.

BY FRANCES ZIRNGIEBEL.

[_Concluded._]


Parallel in time with the course in historical geology or paleontology
was that in botany, under the leadership of Dr. Robert W. Greenleaf, a
Boston physician, who in his student days had assisted Dr. Goodale and
was at the time of giving these lessons Professor of Botany and
Materia Medica at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy. A growing
interest in the study of botany in the schools, and Dr. Greenleaf's
exceptional ability as a teacher, made the attendance at this class
very large. After an hour's lecture the instructor and two assistants
directed the observation of the specimens by the students, who were
required to make sketches of the objects studied. The first set of
lessons was similar to that given in the school by Dr. Goodale several
years before, and was of a preparatory nature, including
morphological, structural, and physiological botany.

[Illustration: ROBERT W. GREENLEAF.]

The introductory lesson dealt with the relation of botany to its
various subdivisions and to other studies. The meaning of morphology
was illustrated by comparing the four plant members--root, stem, leaf,
and plant hair--with the different plant organs, and a practical
exercise, with specimens whose parts were sketched and labeled, was
given to show that the position and mode of development of a part
determine its rank as a member or structural division, while its
function may give it quite a different rank as an organ.

A preliminary view of vegetable histology, considering the shape,
wall, markings in the wall, and contents of cells, was next given.
This was followed by lessons on vegetable physiology, in which the
absorption of liquids and gases for the making of food, assimilation,
transfer and storage of food, the growth of cells and tissues, the
excretion of waste products, special kinds of work, as climbing,
catching of insects, etc., reproduction, and the process of metabolism
as illustrated in cells, were treated of first in a general way and
then elaborated upon in the succeeding lessons. Much time was devoted
to the anatomy, histology, and germination of seeds and to the
structure and function of root, stem, and leaf. The morphology of
fruits and their anatomical classification (profusely illustrated from
the fruits of the market and neighboring fields), with a discussion of
the contrivances for dissemination of fruits and seeds, furnished
subject-matter for both a profitable and interesting lesson.

The last lessons of this set were devoted to the study of the flower
and its parts, particularly stamens and pistils, and ended with an
explanation of the processes of pollination and fertilization. The
work of making vertical and horizontal plans of the flower served as
an introduction for the second year's course on Systematic Botany,
wherein the relations between the common families of flowering plants
were shown. This course was illustrated by numerous hothouse flowers
and also by dried specimens, of which one hundred kinds were given to
each teacher. This course was given to teachers, many of whom could by
means of a key analyze any common flower, but who knew nothing of the
principles of plant relationship. The theories of special creation and
of evolution were explained, and the theory of descent with variation
was taken as a hypothesis.

Starting with this theory of evolution as a basis, the structure of
certain families was studied and they were taken as types with which
other related families were compared. After a classification of all
known flowering plants into gymnosperms and angiosperms, and
subdividing the latter into monocotyledons and dicotyledons, the lily
family was considered as typical of monocotyledons. It and its related
families afforded a simple means of demonstrating the problems under
consideration. Members of this family were found to be characterized
by having an endogenous stem, usually parallel veined leaves,
six-parted perianth free from a three-celled superior ovary, and six
stamens. The allied families were shown to agree with the type in the
internal or fundamental characters, such as the number of carpels and
cells of the ovary, but were found to differ in the more external or
environmental characters, such as the arrangement of the parts of the
perianth.

After studying the relations between the various groups of endogens,
the trees and weeds of the apetalous division of exogens were next
considered, and through _Ranunculaceæ_ connected with polypetalous
dicotyledons. These latter were classified according to whether the
parts of the flower were hypogenous, perigynous, or epigynous. These
terms signify, respectively, under the pistil, around the pistil, and
on the pistil. In this group the rose family presented several
modifications of the pistil, according to which it was divided into
tribes.

When the group of _Gamopetalæ_ was studied, _Solanaceæ_, the
nightshade family, with its regular flower, and _Labiatæ_, or mint
family, with irregular flower, were taken as types with superior
ovaries. Various modifications from these types were found in several
families.

_Ericaceæ_, the heath family, presented, in its suborders of
_Ericineæ_, _Pyroleæ_, and _Monotropeæ_, which had superior ovaries,
and _Vacciniæ_, which had inferior ovaries, an intermediate order
between the preceding _superæ_ and following _inferæ_, of which latter
group _Campanulaceæ_ was considered a type.

The relations between many families were traced, and the _Compositæ_
were lastly considered, this family showing the greatest
differentiation with its coalescence of circles, adnation of different
circles, reduction in parts, and number of individuals brought
together. The greatest deviation from a simple flower and a
complexity of structure were here presented. Through the co-operation
of parts these flowers were of high physiological efficiency.

Throughout the course, families of medicinal or other economic value,
or such as presented evidences of adaptation for cross-fertilization,
dissemination of seed, life in desert regions, or contained examples
of parasiticism or many poisonous genera, were incidentally
considered.

Carefully made illustrated notebooks, collections of dried specimens,
and other evidences of interest in the course were shown by the
teachers, who gained great facility in placing an unknown flower in
its proper family without the use of a key or botany.

The next set of lessons in the botanical series consisted of the usual
number (fifteen) on cryptogamic botany. This was perhaps the course
which was the most difficult of presentation; but, notwithstanding,
much dried and fresh material, representing chiefly the higher
cryptogams, was distributed among the pupils and examined by them.

The fourth and last year of the series was spent on paleobotany. This
was a somewhat novel and valuable course, which was particularly
appreciated by those who had studied geology and paleontology in other
classes of the school. A large amount of laboratory material was
provided from the museum. The duplicate fossil specimens of the
society were used by the class, and ninety determined species were
figured by many members. Since the close of these lessons persons who
have shown throughout the four years a satisfactory knowledge of
botany and have passed the examinations, in the most exhaustive course
ever given in the subject for teachers, have received certificates
stating their qualifications.

[Illustration: GEORGE H. BARTON.]

In the spring of 1887, owing to a suggestion made by Professor W. O.
Crosby and to assistance furnished by him, a private course of
instruction was arranged by Prof. G. H. Barton, of the Institute of
Technology, for a series of lessons in field geology. Twenty-one
persons, nearly all of whom had attended Professor Crosby's course in
The Teachers' School of Science, took these lessons with great
enthusiasm. The series of lessons was continued in the autumn, with
the addition of twelve new members to the class. From this beginning
has grown the systematic course of field instruction in geology now
carried on as one of the regular courses. As at present conducted, it
consists of a series of lessons in the autumn and spring of each year,
so arranged as to give detailed instruction in methods of observation
covering a range through all portions of the subject, embracing
mineralogy, lithology, structural geology, historical geology, and
physiography.

[Illustration: TEACHERS' SCHOOL OF SCIENCE. FIELD CLASS IN GEOLOGY.
PROF. GEORGE H. BARTON, INSTRUCTOR.]

The method pursued is as follows: The class is taken to a typical
place for illustrating the subject in hand. The area to be studied is
pointed out, and then for a half hour or so the class is asked to make
observations unassisted by the instructor and with as little
communication among themselves as possible. Then they are called
together and questions are asked to draw out the results of their
observations, free discussion being invited at this time, and
questions from the class answered by the instructor. Then the
instructor explains the phenomena studied, and finally gives a general
lecture upon the particular subject involved. Notes, taken in the
field, are carried home and rewritten and then handed in at the next
lesson, to be corrected and returned later. A printed synopsis is
furnished each member of the class at every lesson, for which payment
is made sufficient to cover the cost of the printing. Each member is
also required to be provided with a hammer, chisel, and compass.

The course of instruction begins with a discussion of the general
principles of erosion, and one lesson each is given at places
illustrating an excess of chemical and mechanical action. At Medford a
very broad dike of coarsely crystalline diabase, penetrated by
numerous cracks, furnishes an exceptionally good opportunity for the
observation of rapid chemical decomposition, an almost complete
gradual transition being shown from the fresh unaltered rock through
all degrees of decomposition to the formation of soil. The cause of
the decomposition is explained, with the resulting products, and the
history of the latter is traced till they form parts or the whole of a
new rock. A drumlin is seen, at Great Head, Winthrop, being undermined
and worn away by the waves. By comparison with other drumlins in the
neighborhood, the original form of Great Head can be easily restored
mentally and the effect of waves and currents upon a coast can be
readily appreciated. In an excursion to North Adams and rides over the
Hoosac Mountains and to the summit of Greylock, rivers are seen in
their various stages of action, the cutting backward by the cascade
action, the cutting downward of torrent action, and the more quiet
transportation and final deposition of the streams passing through the
lower levels and approaching the sea. From the sides of Hoosac and
Greylock the surface of the Massachusetts plateau is seen, with its
dissection by the Berkshire and Deerfield Valleys, illustrating the
broad effects of erosion over the surface of the continent.

Passing next to a discussion of the disposition of the material that
is derived by erosion from the land, a lecture upon the sorting action
of water is given, and the resultant beds of gravel, sand, and clay
are studied in a section cut by the Fitchburg Railroad through the
sand plateau at Lake Walden, in Concord.

The next step is to study these products of deposition in their
consolidated forms. At Parker Hill, Roxbury, a large quarry furnishes
opportunity for the study of conglomerate, special attention being
paid to the means of determination of stratification in a nearly
homogeneous, coarse material. Here also is a large section in a
drumlin left in a nearly vertical face by excavation about twenty
years ago, and now illustrating finely the action of rain during the
years. This forms an instructive contrast with the marine erosion of
Great Head, Winthrop. Any one of the numerous slate quarries at
Somerville serves the purpose of studying stratification in a fine,
homogeneous material. In each of these three last-named places the
various phenomena of stratified rocks are studied, such as
unconformity, cross-bedding, ripple-marks, strike, and dip, but
attention is confined more especially to the original structures,
subsequent structures being left for later lessons.

Eruptive rocks are then taken up and studied in respect to their
origin and original structures. The quarries near Winter Hill, in
Somerville, furnish an admirable opportunity to study dikes. Here a
small hill of slate is intersected by three series of dikes of
different character and intersecting each other at various angles,
enabling a determination of their relative ages. An intrusive bed, now
separated from its parent dike by erosion, affords the means of
comparing the characteristics of the two forms and of tracing out the
relation between them. The inclined positions of the dike and bed and
the numerous quarries furnish several sections in varying relations to
the two. The various dikes and the inclined position of the inclosing
slate give an excellent chance for the first instruction in the making
of geological maps and sections. Notes are taken for this purpose, and
both maps and sections are constructed and handed in at a later date.

At Marblehead Neck various other eruptive structures, such as flow
structure, ancient ash-beds, etc., are seen in the felsite, of which
many varieties occur there. Attention is especially called to the
liability of mistaking flow structure for stratification, the
similarities and differences being explained. At Marblehead Neck,
also, a careful study is made of the formation of pebbles, all stages
being shown from the dislodging of fragments from the cliffs by frost
action, the dropping into reach of the waves, the first rounding of
the sharp angles to the subangular outline, and finally the rounding
of the fragment into a complete pebble form.

At Newton Centre a study of contemporaneous beds is made, including
their relations to the inclosing rocks and a comparison of their
characteristics with those of intrusive beds.

Eruptive masses, metamorphic rocks, and vein phenomena are all well
shown at Fitchburg, where Rollstone Hill is an eruptive mass of
granite cutting through the metamorphic mica schists and gneisses, and
the granite in turn is cut by very numerous veins of pegmatite,
abundantly rich in tourmaline crystals and occasionally having beryl.

Glacial structures are next taken up. At Newtonville is studied the
esker and sand plateau, rendered famous by the work of Prof. W. M.
Davis and others; at Clinton an exceptionally fine set of terraces,
and the best example of _roches moutonnées_ near Boston, where a class
can be taught in a very few minutes to recognize that the movement of
the ice sheet must have been from the north toward the south; and at
Stow and Haverhill are studied drumlins.

After this, special attention is devoted to the subsequent structures
of rocks, such as folds, faults, cleavage, joints, etc. Typical
places, as before, are selected for each, and the work carried on in
the same manner. When this course has been entirely accomplished, then
places of greater complexity and where the problems are not quite so
plain are visited, and opportunity is given to exercise the skill or
knowledge already gained.

Following this, a series of lessons is devoted to the study of typical
places illustrating the various historical strata occurring in
Massachusetts; among others, Nahant and Braintree for the Cambrian,
Attleboro for the Carboniferous, Mount Holyoke for the Triassic, Gay
Head for the Cretaceous and Tertiary, Rockport, Martha's Vineyard, and
claypits of Cambridge for the Glacial Champlain.

The work in this course has been marked by enthusiasm, and the
attendance has been very large, reaching a maximum of two hundred and
ten, with an average attendance of seventy-one in the autumn of 1896.
As a direct outcome of this work, and connected with it, several
excursions to distant points have been made by parties under the
charge of Professor Barton during the summer vacations. The most
important of these were the following: A five-days' trip through
western Massachusetts; a seven-weeks' trip to the Pacific coast,
including visits to the Lake Superior copper regions, the Yellowstone
Park, Butte, Montana, Great Shoshone Falls in Idaho, Columbia River,
Mount Hood, Frazer Cañon in British Columbia, the Great Glacier of the
Selkirks, and the Hot Springs at Banff; and two trips through Nova
Scotia, one in 1894 and another in 1898. In each of the latter trips
special attention has been paid to the various kinds of mining coal,
iron, and gold, to the famous mineral localities like Cape Blomidon,
and to the general geology.

Also, connected with this work, a special course of lessons has been
given by Professor Barton each spring to a class from the Boston
Normal School, and many occasional lectures and field lessons to the
classes of the State Normal School at Framingham, and at other
schools, teachers' clubs, etc. During the Boston exhibition of the
cyclorama of the volcano of Kilauea, Hawaii, over three hundred
teachers and a large number of schools visited that exhibition and
listened to personal lectures by Professor Barton in direct connection
with the work of The Teachers' School of Science.

Owing to the request of members of the field class, a private class
was organized in the winter for a course of twelve lessons in
mineralogy. This proving successful, and a demand for laboratory work
being shown, this work was incorporated as a distinct course in the
school. It was during the early part of this work that Professor
Barton introduced for the first time in The Teachers' School of
Science the system of daily and final examinations--a system since
followed as the general practice of the school and now considered as
one of its most fundamental features.

This course, after various experiments, has finally developed into a
definite four-years' course of instruction, at the end of which those
members who have met all the requirements receive the diploma of the
school. The full four-years' course is designed to give a thorough
training in the fundamental principles of geological science. Each
year is given a series of fifteen lessons of two hours each, partly
laboratory, partly lecture, and fully illustrated with specimens and
diagrams. The first year's work is devoted to mineralogy. One
introductory lecture is given on the principles of chemistry as the
basis of understanding the composition of minerals, and the four
following lessons are devoted to a study of the physical properties,
mainly crystallography. During the remaining lessons, about one
hundred and fifty of the commonest mineral species are studied, the
class being required to learn to recognize each species and be able to
tell its composition.

The second year's work with lithology is carried on largely in the
same way as with mineralogy. At first a brief review is made of the
most important rock-forming minerals. Then all the commoner species of
rocks are taken up and studied, so as to learn to recognize each
species at sight and to tell its composition. Besides this, lectures
are given upon the origin of the rocks and the derivation of their
component materials, involving a large amount of dynamical geology.

During the third and fourth years are taken up, respectively,
structural and historical geology. Both these subjects are taught
largely by lectures, illustrated by charts and diagrams, a select set
of specimens for the table, and a few such specimens as can be passed
around the room. In the historical geology special care is taken to
furnish for class use as many specimens as possible of the typical
rocks and fossils of the various ages. It is nearly impossible to
provide so abundantly, however, as for mineralogy and lithology. As
regards examinations, the methods used are as follows: The first half
hour of each exercise is taken up with answering questions or
identifying specimens, the examinations in all cases being written.
The ground covered by each examination includes all that has been gone
over during that year previous to the examination. After the
examination is finished, the instructor briefly answers and explains
the questions. The papers so handed in are marked by the instructor
and returned the following week. All of this serves to enable the
class to keep a comprehensive grasp of the subject constantly in hand.
At the end of each year's work a final examination of three hours in
length is given, covering the complete subject. The final rank given
each member is made up equally from an average of the term's work and
the final examination. This course has proved decidedly popular. The
instruction was originally given in the Geological Department of the
Institute of Technology, in a room adapted to seating thirty-six
persons. This was gradually crowded to accommodate fifty-six persons.
At the beginning of the last four-years' course the number of the
applications was so large that each applicant was required to sign a
printed statement promising to be present at all exercises for the
four years, except for good and sufficient reasons. One hundred and
seventeen persons gave the required promise. In order to meet this
demand, two divisions were formed, and on each Saturday afternoon the
same lesson was repeated. In order to defray the additional expense of
the second division the members of the class voluntarily contributed
three dollars each. The labor of repeating the lessons on the same
afternoon proving too great, provision was made the second year to
transfer the instruction to the large lecture hall of the Natural
History building, where accommodations were made for one hundred and
twelve students. The work has since been carried on there, and a
complete new set of specimens, diagrams, etc., is gradually being
obtained.

The membership of the class is, of course, principally made up from
Boston and the towns immediately surrounding, but a few come from
places as far distant as towns in Connecticut and Rhode Island, from
Bridgewater, Scituate, Framingham, Fitchburg, Lowell, Lawrence, and
Beverly.

One member of the class has made an exhaustive study of the granites
of eastern Massachusetts, and others are teaching geology in secondary
schools outside of Boston.

An important and influential outcome of the first lessons of Mr.
Barton was the formation, in the fall of 1888, of the Barton Chapter
of the Agassiz Association, by seven ladies who had been
fellow-students in mineralogy. Later, men and other ladies who had
attended Mr. Barton's field lessons were invited to join. For ten
years this club has flourished, and held weekly evening meetings for
nine months of the year, at which the members have done much
systematic work in the study of geology, mineralogy, chemistry,
botany, entomology, and zoölogy. At some of the sessions the
individual members have taken their share of the work by the preparing
of exhaustive papers which have been read to and discussed by the
class, and sometimes a series of lessons has been given by specialists
in the several departments. Many of the first scientists of Boston
have aided this association by the giving of lectures and advice
regarding courses of lessons and opportunities for study, while the
club has in return been a great benefactor to many who sought its
instruction and the association of those with like tastes. In
arranging regular Saturday outings for the study of field geology and
botany, this club was the pioneer in this vicinity of the kind of
study which happily now seems to be fast becoming popular. A number of
persons who were members of this association in their younger years
are now holding positions in the United States Geological Survey or
other departments of the Government, or in the capacity of curator or
instructor are connected with large museums, colleges, or schools in
different parts of the country, thereby having opportunities to
continue their favorite lines of work, to spread a knowledge of the
things about them, and to induce in others tastes such as were
fostered in them while connected with the Barton Chapter of the
Agassiz Association.

[Illustration: FIELD CLASS IN ZOÖLOGY. LOOKING FOR SHORE LIFE AMONG
THE BOWLDERS AT WOODS HOLE.]

Since closing the four-years' course in botany Dr. Greenleaf has
repeated the lessons on vegetable morphology and physiology and those
on systematic botany. Finding the class not so well prepared as in
former years, instead of continuing the third course of the series, he
has given a set of fifteen lessons on the elementary structure and
function of flowering plants, as he believed that course to be a
necessary foundation for further botanical study.

Another feature of The Teachers' School of Science should not remain
unnoticed. It consists of effective work in zoölogy and geology by Mr.
A. W. Grabau, the official guide in the museum and a graduate student
of geology. A course of lessons on The Shore Animals of New England
was begun by him in April, 1897. Directly connected with these field
lessons was held a class in laboratory work, which was attended by
about twenty persons.

The next year Mr. Grabau endeavored to give his audience a
comprehensive view of the action of cold and heat, of winds and waves,
rain and rivers, and of the chemical effect of the atmosphere in the
production of the natural features of the earth's surface, by giving
eight lectures on The Surface of the Earth, its Rocks, Soils, and
Scenery. Special attention was given to the scenery of New England,
and this awakened an interest in local scenery, which interest led to
Mr. Grabau giving several lectures in surrounding towns, under local
auspices. One of these lectures called the attention of the people of
Arlington, Massachusetts, to the fact that they had in their midst a
valuable geological monument, and led them to start a movement for the
preservation of a terminal bowlder moraine on Arlington Heights, which
is the only good accessible example of such moraine near Boston.

Under the same instruction ten lessons were given on the use of the
microscope and the preparation of specimens of hydroids.

The work begun at the winter lectures was continued during the spring
by excursions to the seashore. The beaches of Revere, Swampscott,
Marblehead; the cliffs and tide pools of Nahant, Marblehead Neck, and
Nantasket, and the mud flats and piles of Beverly, were explored. One
excursion was made to the outer shore of Cape Cod and Buzzards Bay.
The party spent four days on this excursion.

During the early part of the summer an outing was made to Bayville,
Maine, where a laboratory was furnished, with microscopes and other
accessories, and fourteen persons (mostly teachers) devoted ten days
to the study of marine fauna, special attention being given to
hydroids. Some geology was studied during this excursion, and a small
island mapped. Those who attended this expedition were delighted with
an experience new to most of them, as many of them had not before
studied zoölogy and knew not what a field could be opened by the study
of natural history. One of the party afterward remarked, "I feel as if
I had been born into a new world, so different are these things in
their homes from their representations in books."

In the autumn and following spring field lessons were given on marine
zoölogy, the object being to study animals in their natural habitats.
Another excursion was made to Woods Hole, Buzzards Bay, and a summer
laboratory established for ten days at Goldsborough, Maine, where work
similar to that done the previous summer was here carried out. Among
the field lessons of the spring of 1899 was an excursion of four days'
duration to Cuttyhunk, one of the Elizabeth Islands, where there was
an opportunity to study a marine fauna southern in character and
different from that found on the Maine coast. On the afternoon of
Agassiz's birthday a sail was taken to another of this group of
islands--Penikese, the site of the famous summer school. In the
evening the class of seventeen persons listened to the reading of
selections from the life of Agassiz, poems regarding him, and magazine
articles describing events connected with the great meeting in the
summer of 1873. The next day an excursion was made to Gay Head,
Martha's Vineyard, where the afternoon was spent in studying the
wonderfully colored clay cliffs and in searching for fossils. As an
outcome of Mr. Grabau's field lessons the Hale House Natural History
Club was formed. This club consists of teachers and other persons who
have banded together for the study of natural history. Meetings are
held twice a month, and similar classes have been formed for children
of the neighborhood.

The Teachers' School of Science has been of great assistance to the
Boston Normal School by furnishing certain of its pupils with
instruction in geology and zoölogy.

In 1893 The Teachers' School of Science took part in the exhibition of
elementary science teaching made by certain teachers of the schools of
the eastern part of Massachusetts. The school was enabled to take part
in this public exhibit through the generosity of Mr. T. A. Watson, a
pupil in the school, who paid the necessary expenses.

       *       *       *       *       *

     A collection of articles obtained by the Baron de Baye in a
     scientific expedition last year to Siberia and the Russian
     Caucasus contains specimens from very ancient times down. Among
     them are mammoth bones and chipped flints, like those of the
     Mousterian period in France, from the Yenisei; arrowheads, like
     the European and American, from the same region; bronze weapons
     from the Caucasus; iron arrowheads like those of the Congo;
     skulls, weapons and ornaments, necklaces of hard, polished,
     pierced stones, from the Kurgans of the steppes, dating from
     antiquity down to the beginning of the middle ages; Caucasian
     jewels, and ceramic ware ancient and modern. A very curious
     object is one of the statues, called Kamenaia Baba, of a kind
     supposed to have been set up by the Scythians and always held in
     veneration, of which the present specimen is the only one yet
     allowed to go out of Russia.




INFLUENCE OF THE WEATHER UPON CRIME.

BY EDWIN G. DEXTER.


The relation between general climatic conditions and the prevalence of
suicide has been somewhat exhaustively studied by students of
criminology, the result being a considerable accumulation of data and
the formulation of a number of more or less tenable theories. From
these studies we may safely conclude that the homicidal tendency, as
shown by self-destruction (suicide) and the destruction of others
(murder), is stronger in the temperate climatic zones than in the
torrid or frigid, and that in the late spring and early summer months
more of these offenses have been recorded than for any other period of
the year. To these few facts the seeming effects of cosmical forces
upon such tendencies has apparently been limited.

In fact, it was the oft-repeated statement that nothing was known of
the exact relations of the more definite meteorological conditions
with the prevalence of suicide--a statement to be found in most
treatises upon the subject--that has given rise to this paper.
Realizing that the science of climatology must include, and in fact be
based upon, a study of the meteorological conditions prevalent, and
that the study of these definite conditions for the exact times when
suicides or murders occurred might throw some light upon the question,
this problem was undertaken.

In the preparation of the accompanying charts, from the study of which
the conclusions herein stated were deduced, the record of crime for
Denver, Colorado, for the fourteen years ending with June, 1897, was
made use of. Superintendent Howe, chief of the city detective service,
has kept such a record with the greatest care, and we wish here to
acknowledge the many courtesies of his office.

No attempt has been made in this paper to compare the conditions for
Denver, either meteorological or social--and each is somewhat
unique--with such conditions elsewhere. In fact, such a comparative
study is at present impossible since data are wanting.

In the actual preparation of the charts each murder, suicide, or
attempt at suicide--which, for our purpose, is equally important--was
set down chronologically in the left-hand columns of large sheets of
paper ruled for the purpose. These sheets were then taken to the
office of the United States Weather Bureau, F. H. Brandenburg,
director, where were recorded in the proper columns the maximum and
minimum barometer readings, maximum and minimum temperature, maximum
and minimum humidity, maximum velocity of the wind, precipitation, and
character of the day for each day during the fourteen years on which
a crime of either class occurred. When several took place upon the
same day the fact was taken into consideration. From the sheets thus
filled out, the curves on the accompanying charts were plotted by
computing the per cent of crimes of each class committed under the
definite meteorological condition indicated.

The curves marked "normal" were constructed by tabulating in a similar
manner the conditions for every day in a sufficient number of days to
secure a fair average. Five years were so tabulated for Figs. 2, 3, 4,
and 5, and the records for nineteen years used in Figs. 1 and 6.

The whole number of suicides recorded is two hundred and sixty;
murders, one hundred and eighty. It may be noted that this number of
suicides, for a city averaging hardly one hundred thousand inhabitants
for the fourteen years, is largely in excess of the rate recorded for
American cities, but it must be remembered that some of these were
unsuccessful attempts, and also that the social conditions of Denver
tend to swell the number--containing, as it does, so many disappointed
in the last struggle for health.

[Illustration: FIG. 1.]

Fig. 1 shows the occurrence, in per cent, of crimes of both the
classes considered for each month of the year, together with the
monthly meteorological means, computed from the records for nineteen
years. The expectancy curve in the occurrence table is based upon the
supposition that the months of the year are all of the same length,
and that the numerical expectancy would be one twelfth, or eight and a
third per cent for each. It will be seen that the crime curves are for
the most part below the expectancy for the winter months, and above it
for the summer (except for April, and suicides for June), showing the
maximum for the latter class in May and for murders in March. Morselli
shows[C] that for most European countries suicides are at the maximum
in June, though a considerable number show that condition for the
later spring months. A study of the general meteorological means,
shown upon the same plate as the occurrence table, fails to indicate
any good reason for irregularity of the crime curves. The "month"
columns read from the top to the bottom of the chart, and by following
that for May, for instance, which month shows the maximum for suicide,
we find that the meteorological condition for each class of data is
about halfway between the extremes for that class for the year, while
for January (minimum suicides) each class is by far more divergent.
Yet a mean, like those considered in this table, is but the average of
the extremes, and those months which show great per cents of crime
also present great extremes of condition, which fact, interpreted in
the light of those disclosed by the charts yet to be considered, make
the occurrence curve more explicable.

     [Footnote C: Suicide, International Science Series.]

[Illustration: FIG. 2.]

WIND.--An explanation of the various curves in Fig. 2 may serve for
the series following, so I give it somewhat in detail. The vertical
distances from the base line indicate per cents, and the distances
from left to right, divided into columns, the maximum velocity of the
wind per hour for the days tabulated. In the "normal" curve every day
for five years was considered, and it was found that seven per cent of
the days for that period showed a maximum velocity of between one and
ten miles (first column), forty-eight per cent a maximum velocity of
between ten and twenty miles (second column), nineteen per cent a
maximum velocity of between twenty and thirty miles, and so on, as
indicated by the curve. Now, it can readily be seen that this normal
curve may also be considered the expectancy curve--_if the wind has no
effect_. That is, if forty-eight per cent of the days of the year show
a maximum velocity of the wind, between ten and twenty miles an hour,
the law of probability would give us the same per cent of the crime
for the year on such days if this meteorological condition were not
effective.

What we do find, however, is indicated by the other curves, and any
increase of crime over expectancy may in this case be ascribed to the
wind. We notice that for slight velocities (one to twenty miles an
hour) the crime curves are below that of expectancy, but we can see
that if the sum of all the per cents for any one curve is one hundred,
and one is forced above the other at any part, there must be a
corresponding deficiency at some other part. So we may, perhaps, with
justice suppose that these mild velocities do not exert a positively
quieting effect emotionally, but simply a less stimulating effect than
the higher ones. For velocities of between twenty and thirty miles a
marked effect is noticeable, and under those conditions the proportion
of suicides to that expected is 37:29; velocities of from thirty to
forty miles, 14:11; of forty to fifty miles, 7:2; of fifty to sixty
miles, 0.4:2.6; of fifty to sixty miles, 0.2:2. The curve for murders
shows the increase to be slightly less than for suicides, but the same
general relation is preserved throughout. The value of such curves is,
of course, somewhat proportional to the number of observations made
and recorded, and we must confess that two hundred and sixty
(suicides) and one hundred and eighty (murders) is a hardly sufficient
number from which to deduce a definite law, but we can hardly doubt,
even considering this somewhat limited number, that the wind is, in
our problem, a factor of no mean importance.

[Illustration: FIG. 3.]

TEMPERATURE.--Fig. 3 is intended to show, in a similar manner, the
relation between expectancy curves, based upon conditions of
temperature, and the actual occurrence of the crimes in question. With
this class of data, as well as that for the barometric readings and
humidity (Figs. 4 and 5), both the maximum and minimum readings are
considered. This was done instead of taking the mean of both for the
day, since in many cases the latter might be quite normal, while one
or possibly both the former might exhibit marked peculiarities. All
the curves were constructed precisely as in the chart just considered,
and those marked "normal" are again the expectancy curves. An
inspection of the chart shows no marked discrepancies till we reach
the higher temperatures. For the lower the coincidence for all the
maximum and all the minimum curves is not exact, but somewhat similar.
When, however, we reach for the minimum curves, temperatures of from
40° to 50° and from 50° to 60°, which means that for the per cent of
days indicated, the temperature did not go below those points, the per
cent of crime exceeds that expected under the conditions in the
proportions of 22:16.5 and 24:18 (suicides), and 21:16.5 and 29:18
(murders).

The same general relation exists between the maximum curves, where it
is shown that for temperatures between 80° and 100° the actual crime
is about thirty-three per cent in excess of the expected.

These facts have their bearing upon the already noted statement that
the summer months show a preponderance of homicide.

[Illustration: FIG. 4.]

BAROMETER.--Fig. 4, disassociated from the others, shows but little.
Naturally we should not look for very marked effects from variations
of an inch or less in the barometric readings, when in the course of a
journey from the sea level to Denver a change of six inches is brought
about, and in going from the same point to the summit of Pike's Peak
one of nearly twelve inches without producing any marked emotional
abnormities, but we must take into consideration the fact that sudden
barometric variations generally accompany or more frequently precede
other important meteorological changes. In the latter case, though
they might be the primary cause of factors considered in this study,
they themselves would fail to show upon the tables.

[Illustration: FIG. 5.]

HUMIDITY.--This figure (Fig. 5) indicates in a very decisive manner
that states of low relative humidity, as shown by both maximum and
minimum readings, are conducive to excesses in both the classes of
crimes studied. For instance, for maximum humidities between ten and
twenty the proportion of actual crime to that expected is 1:0.1;
between twenty and thirty (suicide), 11:1; between thirty and forty,
9.5:4.5; between forty and fifty, 15:8. The maximum curves show
somewhat the same general relation though not with quite so marked
divergences. To one who has experienced the general low humidities of
our Colorado altitudes (Denver is one mile above the sea level) this
result is not surprising. There is no doubt that a nervous tension
much in excess of that common in the lower altitudes exists, due in
part, perhaps, to the deficiency in barometric pressure and a
consequent effect upon the respiratory processes, but probably, as
shown by these curves, more largely to the dryness of the atmosphere,
as indicated by low humidity. I hope at some future time to verify or
disprove this supposition by a comparative study made at some lower
altitude.

[Illustration: FIG. 6.]

CHARACTER OF THE DAY.[D]--Fig. 6 shows the relation between the
expectancy of crime, based upon the actual per cents of cloudy, partly
cloudy, and clear days (records of nineteen years), and its actual
occurrence. The disagreements are very slight, although a slight
excess of murders is shown for cloudy days.

     [Footnote D: By the United States Weather Bureau days are
     characterized as "cloudy" when for 0.8 or more of the possible
     hours of sunshine the sun is obscured; "partly cloudy" when from
     0.4 to 0.7 inclusive is obscured; and "clear" when 0.3 or less.]

SUMMARY.--Fig. 1 shows at a glance no generally prevailing
meteorological conditions to which can be ascribed, with any degree of
certainty, the monthly variations of crime.

Fig. 2 shows that high velocities of wind seem to increase to a marked
extent the tendency to crime. For the highest velocities increasing
the probability twenty times (two thousand per cent).

Fig. 3 shows that high temperatures seem to have the same effect, that
of between 90° and 100° increasing the probability one hundred per
cent.

Fig. 4 fails to show that barometric changes are accompanied by any
marked excesses in crime.

Fig. 5 shows that low conditions of relative humidity are attended
with very marked excesses, those below thirty increasing the
probability of suicides eleven times (eleven hundred per cent).

Fig. 6 fails to show that the character of the day has any
considerable effect.

Considering briefly, in conclusion, the results of the foregoing
study, and comparing them with a somewhat similar one for children,[E]
we may safely conclude that the tendency to homicide varies with those
meteorological conditions which bring about an emotional state
necessitating a considerable discharge of motor stimulus. The same
conditions which bring about irritability and unruliness on the part
of the child accompany suicidal tendencies.

     [Footnote E: See The Child and the Weather, Pedagogical Seminary,
     April, 1898.]

This supposition is upheld by the fact that suicide is less common in
the colder climates, where the metabolic processes are slow, and in
the torrid zone, where the heat produces a general depletion of energy
for motor discharge, than in the temperate regions, where the climate
is exhilarating. The study, from the social standpoint, too, leads us
to the same conclusion. The excess of crime in the social whirlpools
of our great cities is convincing, and especially the careful study
made by Morselli of the prevalence of suicide in the different
countries of Europe, interpreted in the light of what we know of their
social conditions.

Yet, in considering the facts disclosed by the present paper, we must
not dogmatically assert that each is of the importance that the
figures indicate. In fact, it seems evident from a careful study of
the sheets, which show all the conditions together for the same day--a
thing impossible with the charts illustrating this paper--that the
various conditions for the day mutually react and interact upon one
another, certain combinations seemingly resulting in a re-enforcement
of the tendency to crime, while certain others inhibit it. Space
forbids any full discussion of this phase of the problem in the
present paper, but it very probably will be made the subject of some
future study.

     AUTHOR'S NOTE.--The above paper was written more than a year ago.
     Since that time the work of comparing the prevalence of crime
     with the meteorological conditions has been carried on upon a
     much larger scale in the city of New York. An immensely greater
     number of data have served to corroborate the earlier conclusions
     arrived at in this Denver study, only in minor points--and those
     directly traceable to the very different climates--proving at all
     in opposition to them.--NEW YORK, _July, 1899_.




THE SURVIVAL OF AFRICAN MUSIC IN AMERICA.

BY JEANNETTE ROBINSON MURPHY.


Fifty years from now, when every vestige of slavery has disappeared,
and even its existence has become a fading memory, America, and
probably Europe, will suddenly awake to the sad fact that we have
irrevocably lost a veritable mine of wealth through our failure to
appreciate and study from a musician's standpoint the beautiful
African music, whose rich stores will then have gone forever from our
grasp.

During my childhood my observations were centered upon a few very old
negroes who came directly from Africa, and upon many others whose
parents were African born, and I early came to the conclusion, based
upon negro authority, that the greater part of their music, their
methods, their scale, their type of thought, their dancing, their
patting of feet, their clapping of hands, their grimaces and
pantomime, and their gross superstitions came straight from Africa.

Some of their later songs, it is true, we must technically call
"modified African," but how far the original African song elements
have been altered (and usually not for the better) by contact with
American life is a question of fact, and can only be settled by a
careful comparison of the songs as sung among the natives of Africa
and the changed forms in which their modified ones are found today in
the South. It must be determined in each case, and can not be settled
by any general theory or formula.

This question of the classification of African music has given rise to
more or less discussion. It seems hardly just to call the genuine
negro songs "the folk songs of America." We are a conglomerate people,
and no one race can claim a monopoly in this matter. English, Scotch,
German, French, Italians, and others have brought their own music and
their own folklore, and in each case it must be considered distinctly
belonging to the nationality that imported it. Why should not the same
be true of the genuine negro music? The stock is African, the ideas
are African, the patting and dancing are all African. The veneer of
civilization and religious fervor and Bible truth is entirely
superficial. The African is under it all, and those who study him and
his weird music at short range have no difficulty in recalling the
savage conditions that gave it birth.

Were I to begin now the study of all the intonations and tortuous
quavers of this beautiful music, I fear I should be able to do little
toward imitating it; for it was only possible to catch the spirit of
it and the reason of it all while my voice had the flexibility of
childhood, and the influences of slavery were still potent factors in
the daily life of the negroes. I followed these old ex-slaves, who
have passed away, in their tasks, listened to their crooning in their
cabins, in the fields, and especially in their meeting houses, and
again and again they assured me the tunes they sang came from Africa.

Possibly I have an unusual predilection for this imported African
music, but to me some of the strange, weird, untamable, barbaric
melodies have a rude beauty and a charm beside which, as Cowper says--

      "Italian trills are tame."

It is indeed hard to account for the strange misconceptions which
prevail as to what really constitutes genuine African music. The "coon
songs" which are so generally sung are base imitations. The white man
does not live who can write a genuine negro song. At home there used
to be a rare old singer, an old Kentucky mammy, whom everybody loved.
She once said: "Us ole heads use ter make 'em up on de spurn of de
moment, arter we wrassle wid de Sperit and come thoo. But the tunes
was brung from Africa by our granddaddies. Dey was jis 'miliar songs.
Dese days dey calls 'em ballots, but in de ole days dey call 'em
spirituals, case de Holy Spirit done revealed 'em to 'em. Some say
Moss Jesus taught 'em, and I's seed 'em start in meetin'. We'd all be
at the 'prayer house' de Lord's Day, and de white preacher he'd splain
de word and read whar Ezekial done say--

      "'Dry bones gwine ter lib ergin.'

And, honey, de Lord would come a-shinin' thoo dem pages and revive dis
ole nigger's heart, and I'd jump up dar and den and holler and shout
and sing and pat, and dey would all cotch de words and I'd sing it to
some ole shout song I'd heard 'em sing from Africa, and dey'd all take
it up and keep at it, and keep a-addin' to it, and den it would be a
spiritual. Dese spirituals am de best moanin' music in de world, case
dey is de whole Bible sung out and out. Notes is good enough for you
people, but us likes a mixtery. Dese young heads ain't wuth killin',
fur dey don't keer bout de Bible nor de ole hymns. Dey's completely
spiled wid too much white blood in 'em, and de big organ and de
eddication has done took all de Holy Spirit out en 'em, till dey ain't
no better wid der dances and cuttin' up dan de white folks."

The negro usually sang religious music at his work. He was often
turned out of church for crossing his feet or singing a "fiddle sing,"
which is a secular song, but he could steal all the chickens he wanted
and never fall from grace. One of the most persistent fancies that the
old slaves cherished was that they were the oppressed Israelites, that
the Southerners were the cruel Egyptians, and that Canaan was freedom.
Bondage was of course their slavery. They believed that some day the
Red Sea would come in a sea of blood, which was verified in the civil
war. In many of their songs they appropriate Bible prophecies and
ideas to themselves. The song given on the opposite page is a
characteristic one, illustrating many peculiarities; and if it did not
come from Africa, where did it come from?

It is often asserted at the North that, as a rule, the negro was
punished if he prayed or received religious instruction. On the
contrary, many fine plantations had their "prayer houses," where a
white minister was employed to hold services and to instruct them in
the Bible. In nearly every section they were permitted and encouraged
to hold their own meetings. That this is true is attested by these
same thousands of "spirituals," all of which are filled with Bible
texts. Some of the most devout Christians were, and are yet, the old
"mammies" and "uncles" who lived all the closer to the heavenly Father
because of their simplicity and lack of learning. The deeply religious
and better class of old negroes maintain that the reason that this
music is so fascinating to whites and blacks is because it is God's
own music inspired by the Holy Spirit.

[Music: DONE FOUND DAT NEW HIDIN' PLACE.

  1. Who  dat  ...   yon- der   dressed in  white? ... Must  be   de
  2. Who  dat  ...   yon- der   dressed in  black? ... Must  be   de
  3. Jes on-ly could see lee-tle ba -  by to-day-- ... An -  gel done
  4. When I    was   down in     E  - gypt's land, ...Heard a mighty

  chil-lun  ob  de  Is - rael - ite ... Done found dat new hid-in' place!
   nig  -  gers a - turn - in'  back!   Done found dat new hid-in' place!
  drug her thoo de twelve pearly gates! Done found dat new hid-in' place!
  talkin'  'bout de  promised  land--   Done found dat new hid-in' place!

  Who  dat ... yon- der   dressed in   red? ... Must be de
  God  don't   talk like a nat-er-al   man--... Talk so a
  Pur- ti- est ting what   eb-ber I    done ...     Was to
  And when we  get  on     Ca - naan's shore....    We'll

  chil-lun  dat  a   Mos-es led! .. Done found dat new hid-in' place!
   sin-ner  can  a - un-der-stand-- Done found dat new hid-in' place!
   git religion  when I was young-- Done found dat new hid-in' place!
  shout and sing for-eb-ber more--  Done found dat new hid-in' place!

  REFRAIN.

  Come a-long--Done found dat new hid-in' place!

  Ise so gla-ad 'm Done found dat new hid-in' place!]

There is indeed a wonderful power in some of these songs, and the
charm undoubtedly lies in the fact that they are founded on Bible
texts.

No one questions the remarkable hold the genuine negro music has upon
the Anglo-Saxon race, as is evidenced by the success of the Jubilee
singers years ago and of the Hampton students now. The negroes have
simply used the weird African melodies as a fascinating vehicle for
Bible truths.

Most students of English hymnology have observed a similar fact in
their own religious poetry. One of the most powerful devotional hymns
in the language--How Firm a Foundation, ye Saints of the Lord--is
largely indebted for its perpetuity to the fact that almost every line
is taken directly from the Bible.

To illustrate the power of this music upon the colored people
themselves, I may be permitted to give this little bit of personal
experience:

A few nights ago I went to pay a visit to an old "mammy" from
Charleston. All her family sat round the room when they found I was
from the South. The eldest daughter said: "Bress de Lord! I'm glad to
see you! The Norf am no place for people what's been used to
eberyting. Nuffin but wuk, wuk, wuk; all's jes money. No fun, nor lub,
nor Jesus Christ nowhar! Why, dey'll jes meet you and pass de time ob
day, and dey'll let you go away widout eber stoppin' to ax yer ef
you's prepared to die, and how's your soul. Why, I neber seed no
stranger in Charleston 'thout axin' 'em how's der soul comin' on? De
niggers heah ain't got no Holy Spirit and dey is singing no 'count
songs--dese white songs from books."

At this juncture I quietly began to sing, "I don't want to be buried
in de Storm." Suddenly they all began to sing and pat with me, and
quickly adapted their different versions to mine. They lost no time in
getting happy. They all jumped up and down in a perfect ecstasy of
delight, and shouted, "I feel like de Holy Spirit is right on my
hade!"

Another one exclaimed: "People! dem songs makes de har rise up. Mine
a-risin' now."

We all had a good time, and I felt greatly complimented when the head
of the house explained enthusiastically: "You does shore sing 'em
good; and for a white lady you is got a good deal ob de Holy Spirit in
you, honey"; and before I left the house they had tried to convince me
that God has surely blessed this music by taking a hand in forming it
himself.

We find many of the genuine negro melodies in Jubilee and Hampton Song
Books, but for the uninitiated student of the future there is little
or no instruction given, and the white singer in attempting to learn
them will make poor work at their mastery; for how is he, poor fellow,
to know that it is bad form not to break every law of musical phrasing
and notation? What is there to show him that he must make his voice
exceedingly nasal and undulating; that around every prominent note he
must place a variety of small notes, called "trimmings," and he must
sing tones not found in our scale; that he must on no account leave
one note until he has the next one well under control? He might be
tempted, in the _ignorance_ of his twentieth-century education, to
take breath whenever he came to the end of a line or verse! But this
he should never do. By some mysterious power, to be learned only from
the negro, he should carry over his breath from line to line and from
verse to verse, even at the risk of bursting a blood-vessel. He must
often drop from a high note to a very low one; he must be very careful
to divide many of his monosyllabic words in two syllables, placing a
forcible accent on the last one, so that "dead" will be "da--_ade_,"
"back" becomes "ba--_ack_," "chain" becomes "cha--_ain_."

[Music:

 1. Ma- ry  and Marthy    had a cha-_ain_--Walk Jerus'lem jis like Job! An' a
 2. I  tell you bredderin, fur a fac'--    Walk Jerus'lem jis like Job! If you
 3.Some says Pe-ter and  some says Paul--  Walk Jerus'lem jis like Job! But dey

   eb'-ry   link was   a   Je -  sus Na-_ame_! Walk Jeru-s'lem jis like Job!
 ebber leabs de debbil you musn't turn back!   Walk Jeru-s'lem jis like Job!
 ain't  but  one   God   saves   us   all--    Walk Jeru-s'lem jis like Job!

  REFRAIN.

  When I comes ter die ... I want ter be ... read-y; When

  I comes ter die, ... Gwine ter walk Jeru-s'lem jis like Job!]

He must also intersperse his singing with peculiar humming
sounds--"hum-m-m-m." He will have to learn that the negro never
neglects his family relations in his songs, and seldom considers his
"spirityul" finished until he has mentioned his father and mother and
sister and brother, and his preacher.

A beautiful custom prevails among them of sending messages by the
dying to friends gone before into heaven. When a woman dies some
friend or relative will kneel down and sing to the soul as it takes
its flight. This song contains endless verses, conveying love and
kisses to Aunt Fannie and Uncle Cæsar and "Moss Jesus." With omissions
it is used upon other occasions with fine effect.

[Music: RIDE ON, JESUS.

  CHORUS.

  Ride on, Je-sus, Ride on, Je-sus, Ride on, Conq'ring King; I

  want to go to Heaven in de morn-in'. 1. See my mud-der,

  Oh, yes! Tell her for me, Oh yes! Ride my hoss in de

  bat-tle ob de field, I want to go to Heaven in de morn-in'!]

Old Mary, who sang this, was a nurse in our family. She, like most
negroes, had no idea how old she really was. She never worried, though
the heavens should fall, and this ignorance as to when their birthdays
rolled round may account for their longer lives here and in Africa,
and for their not showing their age. She found great difficulty in
arranging her religion to suit her morals, and once, in my childish
innocence, I remonstrated with her for getting "baptisted" so many
times, and she exclaimed indignantly: "I's a Methodist wid a Baptist
faith. I gits baptisted ebery summer when de water am rale warm, and I
gits turned out ebery winter fur dancin' and stealin', and you would
too, child, ef you was a nigger."

A few days ago I asked one of the most scholarly and noted ministers
of the colored race, who was visiting in New York, about the negro
music. He is very black, and his parents were pure Africans. He said
that undoubtedly the tunes came directly from Africa, that his father
said he had sung them at home in Africa, and that the tunes were
almost supernatural in their hold upon the people. He continued: "Upon
condition that you will never tell my name, I'll give you an incident
which will prove to you that many of our race are still under the
influences of voodooism, and that although I am, as you see, a
professed Christian, all the African practices hold a powerful charm
for me which I can't shake off." Knowing well his reputation and
position, I was startled. He went on and said: "And this may serve you
some time, as it is a true story of my own weakness. Once the bishop
ordered me to the city of ----, where I was to have charge of a
run-down church. The first prayer-meeting night the members locked me
out, and came with shotguns to the church steps and said they were
tired of ministers, that they had had four, and would not have a fifth
minister. By dint of eloquence and superior education I obtained their
consent to enter the church. Well, I tried faithfully to attract them.
I never had more than a handful, and for six months all seemed dead
set against me. I could not draw. Completely discouraged, I was in my
study praying when the door opened and a little conjure man came in
and said softly: 'You don't understand de people. You must get you a
hand as a friend to draw 'em. Ef you will let me fix you a luck charm
you'll git 'em.' In my desperation, I told him to fix it. He brought
the charm back in a few days, and said, 'Now, you must feed it wid
alcohol, whisky, or spirits, and never let it git dry, and always wear
it nex' your heart when you enters or leaves de church.'

"It was only an ugly piece of red flannel, and I hate to confess it,
but I obeyed his instructions. I always felt for it before I went down
on my knees to pray. The next Sunday the church was full of people.
The following Sabbath there was not standing room. For four years the
aisles were crowded every Sunday. I knew it was not the gospel's
power, but that wretched 'luck ball.' When the bishop sent me to
another church he wrote and said: 'When you came they tried to drive
you away with shotguns; here, now, twenty men write me begging to have
you stay. Now you draw beyond any minister in the city! How is this?'
I was ashamed to tell him. I opened the charm, and found these things
in it. It was a large piece of red flannel, with a horseshoe magnet
fastened flat to it. In the center of the space in the magnet was a
bright silver dime. On one side were sewed two needles, on the other
side of the money one needle. Below it were two more needles. The
whole was covered with what looked and tasted like gunpowder. I tore
it up and threw it away, and have never been able to draw an audience
since.--You want one? Well, I'll try to get one for you."

"Indeed I want one! What lecturer would not?"

I give this as an instance of the peculiar persistency of African
ideas even in enlightened, civilized, Christian minds.

There is a Mrs. R---- in a side street in a Northern town whom I
lately visited. She was the most prominent member in the Baptist
colored church. She was the leading singer. Another singer got jealous
of her power to holler the loudest; besides, she wanted to get her
washing away from her as well as her husband, and, worst of all,
_conjured_ her. At last the first singer fell sick, and the doctor
could do nothing to relieve her. A conjure woman called, and for
twenty-five dollars undertook the case. She came in and moaned a few
incantations in an unknown tongue. She carried a satchel, and took
from it a glass, poured some gin into it and drank a little, and then,
holding her hand over it, said:

"Mrs. R----, look inside yourself and tell me what you see."

Mrs. R---- was hypnotized, I suppose, and said, "I see pizen, and
snakes a-crawlin'."

"That's right! It's the lady across the way has put the spell on you,
and she has cut your shape out in red flannel and stuck it full of
pins and needles and biled it. She's trickin' you, and killin' you.
But I'll throw it back on her--scatter your spell to the four winds.
She has killed a snake and taken the blood and mixed it with wine, and
in twenty-four hours it turned into snakes and you drank it and you
were going crazy, and your home would have been gone." It is needless
to say the sick woman recovered.

She showed the caul she was born with tied up in a bundle in her
stocking. The neighbors were always trying to touch the lump so they
could put spells on people and be healed from diseases. The conjure
woman also makes luck balls for sale. She tells her customers they
must always wear them next their skin on the right side, and keep them
wet with "feedin' medicine."

I was so fortunate as to discover the contents of one of her balls.
Corn, twine, pepper, a piece of hair from under a black cat's foot, a
piece of rabbit's right foot, and whisky--all put into a red flannel
bag. This was all inclosed in a buckeye biscuit. She puts loadstones
in some of them to draw away a lover from a girl. She also takes roots
of several different herbs and flowers and makes them into love
powders, and gives them to a darkey lassie to throw upon her truant
lover to bring him back to her waiting heart.

It is not to be disputed that Africa has touched in many ways and in
divers places the highest civilization of the Old World. I am fully
persuaded that in the near future scientific researches will discover
among native African tribes traditions which disclose the real
parentage of many of the weird stories concerning the Creation and
the Flood which are now current among their descendants in this
country. The same may be said of "Brer Rabbit" and the "Tar baby,"
"Brer Fox," "Brer Dog," "Brer Wolf," and all that other wonderful
fraternization with animal nature which simple savage life and
unbridled childish imagination suggest. In many instances they will be
found absolutely identical with those that are now told in the wilds
of Africa.

To show the existence of this belief among the negroes themselves, I
will quote from an old negress, whom I know well, named "Aunt
Lucinda":

"Dis is an ole tale. Hit done come down since de Flood. Why, chile, de
Bible didn't git eberyting by a good deal--cose it didn't! Us niggers
done tole dis in Africk, and Moss John done say de Bible say ef it got
all de words Jesus say hit couldn't holt 'em. And dere's lots of tales
de Bible didn't git. Dis one now be 'bout de hammer and de ark:

"One time God done tole Moss Nora to build him a ark, case de people
fo de Flood was a singin' and a cuttin' up and a givin'
entertainments, and God wanted to raise up a better people to a sarve
him, and so Moss Nora had to build de ark tight, so de few people
wouldn't drown. God tole him to take a he and a she of every kind and
fix de jistes tight so de ark wouldn't leak water when de Flood came.
De people sat around on de benches a-pokin' fun at him, and dey say,
'Moss Nora, what you doin'?'

"He say, 'I's a-hammerin' de jistes tight.'

"And de people say, 'What dat you doin'?'

"And Moss Nora say, 'I got this ark to build, and I gwine to build
it.'

"And de people kep' a-pokin' fun. Dey say, 'Moss Nora, what dat hammer
say?'

"And he say, 'What it sound to you like it say, humph?'

"And de people laugh and say it soun' like it say nuffin but
'Tim--tam! tim--tam!'

"And Moss Nora say: 'Dot's whar you fotch up wrong. I got ter build
this ark so tight de water won't leak thoo, and de people won't fall
out, and dat hammer don't say "Tim--tam," no sich ting. Hit say ebery
time I hits de jistes, "Repent! repent!"'

"Dere's a spiritual what goes long wid it too, honey, 'bout de hammer
an' de nails, but I don't know it. Hit's a ole, ole story dat we been
singin' since de Flood--jes come down from mouf to mouf. Hist de
Window is a ole tune, but not ole like dis one. Hit done come jis like
I tole you."

In regard to one song, at least, I have irrefragable proof of its
African origin. Mrs. Jefferson Davis tells me her old nurse was a
full-blooded African named Aunt Dinah. She would lovingly put her
little charge to sleep with this doggerel:

[Music: FADDING, GIDDING.

  Fad-ding, gid-ding, fad-ding go; San-té mo-lé, san-té mo-lé;

  Fad-ding, gid-ding, fad-ding go; Eb-er sence I born ma' han' 'tan so.]

Aunt Dinah would also sing it pleadingly when begging for a present.
She would begin the supplication with hands clinched tight, and open
them quickly at the last line. She declared that she always sang it in
this exact manner in her old African home whenever she was asking a
favor, but she was never able to tell the meaning of any part of it
except the last line, the African of which she had forgotten, but
which meant that all black races are born with wide-open palms ready
and waiting for other peoples to pour rich gifts into them. This she
translated in her apt, crude way: "Eber sence I born, my hand stand
so!"

She had a relative named Moses, I think, who had three deep gashes
radiating from each eye. Of these he was very proud, as he said they
indicated that he was of the king's blood.

Ten days have elapsed since the above was written. I feel like crying,
"Eureka!" I have found my proof! After a diligent search for a real
live African, I have found an educated convert to Christianity, who
has been absent only two years from the wilds of the west coast of
Africa. In broken English he sang for me several songs sung by the
savages of the native Mendi tribe. The tunes sounded much like songs I
know, but I could not take them down during this interview. All the
songs I sang he said seemed very familiar--in certain portions
especially so.

I was especially interested in the description he gave of a peculiar
ceremony common among the wildest Bushmen and the Yolloff tribe. My
informant grew up and played with them a great deal when a child. He
says the death of a young boy they consider an affront to the
living--an affront which they never forgive. It is singular that among
some of our Indian tribes a similar notion prevails. The friends meet
around the corpse and exclaim, while they chant and sing and dance, in
a high-pitched voice: "Why did you die? Were you too proud to stay
with us? You thought yourself too good to stay with us. To whom do you
leave all your things? We don't want them! Take them with you if you
are so stuck up; we'll bury them with you!"

They work themselves into a perfect fury, and one gets a whip and
flogs the corpse until it is horribly mutilated. Then the few who have
really been friends to the child in their crude way draw near and
begin to sing:

      "Anasa yi.
      Anasa papa,"

which this native African assured me meant, as nearly as he could
translate it--

      "Find out how mother is.
      Find out how papa is."

The curious identity of the name for father in this African dialect
and our own he could not explain.

Even while the relatives were thus speaking kindly to the departed
child, others would come up with whips, and with blows spitefully
exclaim: "Tell my father's sister I am happy. Speak to her for me."
This they said, mocking the relatives for sending messages.

What better proof is required of the origin of the peculiar custom of
the negroes in our own Southland of sending communications by the
dead? He also gave me new stories of Brother Conch, and a tale of a
rabbit and a pitch-man.

He says he has heard a savage tribe often sing to the beat of a
peculiar drum, as they started to pillage and destroy a neighboring
tribe, these words, which he could not translate:

      "Zo, whine, whine,
      Zo, bottom balleh.
      Zo, whine, whine,
      Zo, bottom balleh."

Some of the tribes are followers of Mohammed. After they have broken
their fast, they sing this hymn to their God:

      "Li li, e li li,
      Moo moo dooroo, soo moo li."

I then sang for him a part of "Gawd bless dem Yankees, dey'll set me
free,"

[Music:

  Gawd bless dem Yankees, dey'll set me free! 'Most done toil-in' heah!

  Leetle chiler-den, 'm ... 'm ... 'Most done toil-in' ... heah!]

and when I came to the humming, which we all know is the marked
peculiarity of the negro singing, he stopped me and said, "Whenever
you hum that way it means 'Hush!' and among the tribes I have known it
always comes in baby songs." He then sang this one, which a heathen
woman used to sing to his little sister "Amber":

      "Amber in a wa,
      Keen yah feenyah ma,
      Amber in a bamboo carri,
      Amber eeka walloo.
      Um, um, um."

A rough translation of this means: "Amber, be quiet and I'll give you
something. I'm not going to flog you. You are quiet, so I thank you.
Hush, hush, hush!"




REMEDIES FOR THE DEPOPULATION OF FRANCE.

BY M. JACQUES BERTILLON.


France is on the way to become a country of the third rank. It is
perishing for lack of births. Its population remains stationary, while
that of all the other great countries has largely increased since the
beginning of the century. This points ultimately to a certain growing
inferiority in military strength, economical prosperity, literary
prestige, and scientific repute; and finally to a progressive
diminution of French influence upon the march of civilization. This
depreciation of France comes partly from political causes and partly
from its low birth rate.

In the examination of the remedies which have been proposed to
antagonize this evil, we shall begin with a rapid review of those
which appear to be least efficacious. Then we shall present those
which figure on the programme of the _Alliance Nationale pour
l'accroissement de la population française_, a society which should
include all French people who care for the future of their country.

The reforms for which the depopulation of France has served as the
vaulting board may be divided, notwithstanding the great variety of
them, into four categories: (1) Various social reforms; (2) increase
in the number of marriages; (3) diminution of involuntary sterility;
and (4) reduction of mortality.

We have a word to say with respect to each of these:

I. SOCIAL REFORMS PROPOSED FOR THE HYPOTHETICAL PURPOSE OF INCREASING
NATALITY.--Nobody has ever shown that the emancipation of woman,
selection in paternity, the suppression of divorce, or, the contrary,
laws facilitating divorce, would augment natality. Nobody has ever
given a proof, or the beginning of a proof, in support of these
fancies.

Would socialistic reforms leading to a diminution of the share of
capital, and a corresponding increase of the share of labor, have any
effect upon natality? I can not pronounce upon this question, because
I have not sufficient data; nevertheless, the remuneration of capital
has not ceased to diminish since the beginning of the century--we may
even estimate that it has diminished nearly one half, for the nominal
interest on money has fallen from five to three per cent. This has not
prevented natality from decreasing in our country. Would it be
augmented if capital should come to have no remuneration at all? I
have not examined this difficult and very hypothetical question, for,
if such a thing should happen, it could be only in an extremely remote
future. But the supreme struggle of which our country has always to
think will have taken place long before that.

The revival of religious ideas, if it should come about, might have
some effect on natality. Demographic studies have shown how great an
influence religion has on habits and on phenomena of moral pathology
(on the frequency of suicides, for example), and prove that men put
the prescriptions of their religion into practice more than one would
believe. All religions direct man, more or less imperatively, to have
as numerous a posterity as possible. There may therefore exist a
relation between natality and the degree of sincerity of religious
convictions. But it is manifest that, whatever we may do, we can not
change our age nor prevent its growing more and more incredulous.

II. SUMMARY EXAMINATION OF MEASURES HAVING IN VIEW THE INCREASE OF THE
NUMBER OF MARRIAGES.--Nuptiality is nearly the same in France as it
has been. It has, however, diminished during the last twenty years,
falling gradually from eight marriages to seven marriages a year per
thousand inhabitants. For seven years past it has gained a little, and
is now 7.6--a fairly satisfactory rate. It is not here that the saddle
galls us.

It has been proposed, as a measure for increasing the number of
marriages, to simplify the required formulas. I believe that these
formulas are indeed too long, too many, and too expensive. The
countries which have been so foolish as to copy our civil code have
taken pains to strike out this chapter, and they have done well. But
he is greatly mistaken who believes that the number of marriages could
be perceptibly increased by suppressing unpleasant formulas. When one
wants to marry, he generally does so in spite of the obstacles which
maladroit legislation may have piled up. In case of need, the matter
is settled by an irregular affiance, and natality loses little.

The violent suppression of convents has also been proposed as a
measure for promoting the increase of marriages. A person who has
reflected much could not speak of such a thing. To what extent does
any one suppose that might augment natality? The convents at this time
contain about sixty thousand women. Suppose they were all as ready as
other women to marry--which is not the case, for the fact that they
have retired to a cloister proves that family life has few attractions
for them--a simple calculation shows that they would afford forty-five
hundred births a year. So France needs six hundred thousand infants
every year, and a plan is advanced to give it four or five thousand at
most--and that by means of a violent measure, unworthy of an age of
freedom!

Next are the _measures proposed for diminishing involuntary
sterility_. Is involuntary sterility as frequent as it is supposed to
be? Our respected master, Jules Rochard, was surprised to find two
million sterile families recorded in the census reports. But the
number does not appear excessive. We can not compare it with similar
returns abroad, for France is the only country, except in the case of
a few cities abroad, in which items of this kind are inquired into by
the census takers. But, according to different gynæcologists--chiefly
German--cited in the Academy of Medicine, the number of sterile
families should be sixteen per cent. Now, this is the exact proportion
found in France in the enumeration of 1896. The really surprising
thing about the matter is not the number of sterile families, but the
limited fecundity of the fertile families. There are other figures to
show that absolute sterility is not the cause of the low rate of
French natality. An inquiry respecting sterile families was made in
1856, at a time when French natality was a little higher than it is
now, a comparison of the results of which with those of the
enumeration of 1886 shows that the number of fruitful families had not
diminished (83.6 per cent of the families having one or more children
then, to 83.3 in 1886). The factor that has diminished is the
fertility of the families. It is only necessary to cite the measures
that have been suggested to counteract this supposed excessive
sterility to make their inanity apparent. Among them are reform of the
abuse of tobacco and alcohol and war upon syphilis. Do not these
scourges exist among other nations than us? Nothing could be more
salutary than to war upon them, but to connect their existence with
the depopulation of France is a singular exaggeration of their
importance. More than this, the physician of a benevolent institution
in Paris has told me that the large families who resort to his
dispensary nearly all have a drunkard at their head. The families that
issue from such parents are not necessarily degenerate. This curious
observation ought not certainly to make us partisans of drunkenness,
but it demonstrates to us that the suppression of alcoholism is not
what will restore French natality. Rather the contrary.

III. EXAMINATION OF MEASURES PROPOSED FOR DIMINISHING MORTALITY.--As
the question of the population of France has been more especially
discussed by the doctors, it has done great service as a vaulting
board for medical theories. Doctors are very ready to reason as if
they could dispose of human life at their will. It is very hard to
keep a man from dying. The most skillful doctors have not reached that
point; but it is very easy to have a man born, and is within the reach
of the latest-made young practitioner. It is very doubtful whether the
proposed measures will be efficacious or practical. See how much
trouble we have had, after a century of experiments, in realizing the
benefit of vaccination, the only nearly infallible remedy we have
against disease. Surely a country ought to guard itself as much as
possible against sickness and death, and should do everything that
will conduce to that end, as we do all that is possible to cure a man
ill with pneumonia or any other disease. But we should not delude
ourselves with illusions, and we have to confess that the efficacy of
the measures which we take to satisfy our conscience is very doubtful.
The failures of hygiene are almost as numerous as those of medicine.

Mortality has not increased in France. It is rather less there than in
other countries in the same latitude, and even less than that of some
of the countries situated farther north. So we can hardly hope to
diminish it very much.

The effect of mortality on the whole is, moreover, not to diminish
natality, but rather to favor it. The death of an adult leaves some
position vacant, and makes room for the institution of a new household
and the birth of other children. So when a rich old man dies, the
money he leaves helps set up his children in life; and when a poor old
man dies, a burden is taken away from his descendants, who had to
support him and who can now marry and have children. Some of the
parallelisms in the movements of population which statisticians have
observed may be explained thus. We might compare a human society to a
tank so arranged as to be always full of water. It has a supply pipe
(natality and immigration) which opens and operates only when the
discharge pipe (mortality and emigration) is also open; or to a forest
of definite extent, in which, when a clearing is opened, a new growth
appears in the cleared space, unless some cause exists to prevent it,
which cause it will be the forester's business to find and remove. He
would not think, however, of stopping the cutting of the old trees,
for that would be to prevent the essential condition of the new
growth's getting a headway. The law of all living societies, in
forests and in nations, is the perpetual renewal of the stock.

IV. OF MEASURES THAT WILL BE EFFECTIVE.--The evil must be fought in
its causes. These causes are detestable family customs, dictated by
pecuniary considerations. These being the things to be reformed, and
money being the cause of them, the beginning should be made with
money. We have a right to demand energetic measures, severe if
necessary, against the evil that is eating France. Those which we
shall ask for here are only equitable. They shall fully respect
individual liberty, and in some cases augment it. Their purpose is to
teach the French people who do not know it the immense wrong which
their mistaken selfishness is inflicting upon the country. They aim
especially to modify customs, and to invoke for reasonably numerous
families the profound respect and protection that are due them. And
they seek to harmonize general with particular interests, a thing to
which the present laws have precisely the contrary effect.

_It is just as much every man's duty to contribute to the perpetuity
of his country as it is to defend it._ This is a moral truth which the
French have forgotten, and it will have to be inculcated in them. The
case is beyond the reach of the most eloquent sermons, and will have
to be met, if the mass of men are to be convinced, by palpable facts
that will touch all personally. This leads to the principle, which
seems, moreover, self-evident, that the fact of bringing up a child
should be considered a form of tax payment. The payment of a tax is,
in fact, the imposition of a pecuniary sacrifice for the profit of the
whole nation. This is what the father accepts who rears a child.

_A family, to be acquitted of the tax, should rear at least three
children._ It takes two children to fill the place of the parents, and
there should be a third in addition, for one in three families, on an
average, will have no children. Hence the family which does not rear
three children will fail of imposing sufficient sacrifices upon itself
for the future of the nation. It is free to do this, but should pay
damages for it. He, on the other hand, who rears more than three
children imposes supplementary burdens upon himself, for which he
should be recompensed every time occasion offers. The principle of a
reduction of taxes proportioned to the number of children was applied
in June, 1898, at the instance of the _Alliance Nationale_, by the
city of Lyons. It has been adopted, very timidly at first, and then a
little more broadly, by the Minister of Finance.[F] But it would be
easy, and even necessary, to go considerably further in this
direction.

     [Footnote F: France is not the first country that has started on
     this course. The spirit of justice has suggested similar reforms
     in countries which have no questions of depopulation to deal
     with. Reductions of taxes proportioned to the number of children
     have been granted in Prussia, Saxony, most of the secondary
     states of Germany, Servia, Norway, Sweden, several Swiss cantons,
     and Austria.]

To accomplish this reduction without the treasury losing anything, it
is only necessary to charge the less prolific families with one fifth
additional tax. The demographic condition of France is, in fact, so
deplorable that families of more than three children form only one
sixth part of the whole number, or are 2,122,210 out of 12,127,023;
hence, in order to clear fully from liability for taxes these two
million families, it is enough to charge the other ten million
families with supplementary taxes of twenty per cent--a thing that is
entirely practicable. It may, however, seem more expedient to scale
the supplementary impost, so that it shall fall in inverse proportion
to the number of children. Thus, let bachelors more than thirty years
old pay fifty per cent; households without children, forty per cent;
families with one child, thirty per cent; families with two children,
ten per cent; families with three children, the present tax without
addition; while families with more than three children should be
wholly exempt. A simple calculation will show that the treasury would
gain by such an adjustment. It would lose 2,122,210 contributors of
taxes, and would gain, against these, 2,456,112. Furthermore, families
with more than four children are usually poor and hardly able to pay
even light assessments, while those we propose to tax supplementarily
are mostly wealthy, whence the tax against them would be generally
productive.

These scalings and exemptions might be applied to all the various
kinds of direct taxes, so that the state should say, in effect, to the
infertile families: "You have done a wrong to your country. We have no
thought of punishing you for it, but it is not right that you profit
by it. You must pay damages for it."

The plan actually followed by the state, instead of making lighter the
meritorious burden which the head of a numerous family assumes, does
everything to make it harder. All the direct and indirect taxes seem
to fall higher upon families having many children. It would not be
exact to say that the law is indifferent to natality. It would be more
just to say that it does all it can to discourage it, and that every
Frenchman is officially invited, in his own interest and that of his
posterity, to limit it as much as possible. The contrary is what
should be done.

There are wealthy families which are in a position to contribute most
liberally to the perpetuity of the nation, and yet, strangely, they
are the most abstemious. It would not be fair to tax them according to
the number of servants they have, for this must increase as children
multiply; but the tax might be adjusted to the excess of servants over
children.

As an objection to our plan, it may be asked if we really believe that
those "neo-Malthusian" families who have only one or two children will
decide to have four in order to save themselves from some taxes? We do
not cherish this illusion; but the sordidness of the family customs of
the country should not be exaggerated. Most of the families sin
through selfishness, while they do not realize that their selfishness
is culpable, harmful, and ignoble. This must be made clear to them,
and no method of publishing the fact is as imposing and effective as
the tax-collector's schedule. The reform in direct taxes which we
propose will therefore have an educational influence.

The same principle might be applied in the military service by
expediting the discharge of soldiers who are married. A bill to this
effect has been introduced in the French Senate, and an amendment has
been proposed extending the favor to the eldest son of a family of
five children.

The inheritance tax is a particularly fitting form of impost in which
insufficiently fruitful families might pay the indemnity which they
justly owe the state on account of their sterility; for the prime
object of the neo-Malthusians is to forestall the necessity of
dividing their fortunes among too many children. The laws of
succession are so framed now that _only_ sons pay less than others;
not only are the expenses of notarial acts less for them than for
families with several children, but the latter are liable to pay the
tax several times, for when one of the heirs dies his brothers and
sisters will have to pay new succession taxes. In all cases of this
order the treasury burdens numerous families, and spares
neo-Malthusian ones. The institution of heritage stimulates industry,
and is one of the chief reasons for it. A great many men, we are sure,
would work less and would certainly save less except for the prospect
of leaving the fruit of their labor and economy to their children--or,
too often, to their only child. But as the institution of heritage
becomes under these conditions one of the prime factors of
depopulation, it will have to be modified.

The state is as much interested in the fecundity of families as it is
in their industry and thrift. To stimulate the latter virtues it
guarantees them the right of inheritance. It might withdraw it or
diminish it to its own profit, if their fertility was not judged
sufficient for it. For such a measure to be effective its application
should be severe enough to touch sensibly the fortunes of families
which have given the country only one or two children. The state, for
instance, might reserve to itself the disposable part of the
inheritance--half, for instance, in the case of families having only
one child; a third, of families where there are two children; and
waiver of the extra tax where there are three children. The principle
might be approximately expressed as that of treating single children
as to their inheritance portions as if they had brothers. But as a
proposition so worded would have but little chance of immediate
adoption, we should have to be satisfied with a less radical reform.
If it is objected that such measures would be too revolutionary and
too much opposed to existing ideas and habits, the answer is that
anodynes would be without effect upon so profound and inveterate an
evil. French families must cease to have an evident interest in
limiting the number of their children, and something more than half
measures will be needed to achieve such a result.

Our principle is equality of burdens. We say to the French: "You have
three chief duties toward your country: to contribute to its
perpetuity, to its defense, and to its pecuniary burdens. We affirm
that you have failed in the first of these duties. This being true,
you must accept the other two with a supplement. With this principle
severely applied, and with some other reforms, we hope to bring back
to the country the idea of the respect that is due to numerous
families and of aversion against the detestable habits that are
destroying France."

The sums derived from the increased succession taxes which we have
proposed to assess upon families that have given the country only one
or two children might be reserved for the education of poor children
or for the realization of some such plan as has been proposed by M.
Raoul de la Grasserie for the pensioning of a retreat in old age for
the parents of large families.

Another means of encouraging parentage may be found in instituting
special honors and marks of esteem for the fathers and mothers of
numerous children. Thus the General Council of the Drôme gives a gold
medal on the 14th of July to each of the two women in the department
who excel in this respect. A fund has been created at Nantes for
providing rewards to those who have the most children under fifteen
years of age. A system of rewards also exists at Meaux for those who
have contributed most to the population.

The French law requiring the equal division of estates among all the
children operates as a deterrent to parentage. A father who has built
up a large business or accumulated a handsome domain is exceedingly
averse to the prospect of having it cut up and dispersed, and is
therefore careful to have but one child, so that it may descend
unimpaired to him. The coincidence that France is the only country
where this system prevails, and is, at the same time, the only one
where the population is decreasing, is striking enough to suggest a
connection between the two phenomena. The law works mischievously in
this respect, and requires modification in the direction of giving the
parent larger privileges of testamentary disposition.

Thus, the state should in every way and in every department of law and
administration manifest its profound respect for large families; it
should set the example on this point, for it is the party most largely
interested.--_Translated for the Popular Science Monthly from the
Revue Scientifique._




WEST INDIAN POISONOUS FISHES.

BY JAMES MACDONALD ROGERS, F. R. C. S.,

STAFF SURGEON, R. N.


At a time when so much attention is being paid to the West Indian
Islands as regards their politics, social condition, and natural
history it may not be out of place to briefly consider the subject of
the poisonous fishes to be found in the neighboring seas. Considering
the number of unwholesome fish abounding in these waters and the
numerous cases of illness caused by them, I was surprised on
investigation to find that so little appeared to be known or written
on the subject. During my three-years' cruise in the West Indies the
study of those fishes reputed to be poisonous was forced upon me by
reason of the numerous cases of illness among the sailors of my own
ship. When it is asserted that there are no less than sixty varieties
of noxious fishes to be found in Cuban waters alone, it seems
desirable that those who are about to settle in these parts should
have some general idea as to what fish to choose and what to avoid.

Colored fishermen are not too particular about hawking unwholesome
fish in the streets, even when its sale is forbidden in the market,
and numerous cases have come under my notice where the unwary
purchaser has paid the penalty by a sharp and painful illness. One of
the great delights of our sailors is to land on some sandy beach,
provided with a large seining net, in order to catch fish, the
consumption of which varies the monotony of salt beef and pork. On
examining the hauls they made I invariably found some unwholesome
specimens, which I advised them to reject, and by so doing every time
they went seining had no more cases of fish poisoning on board.

In tropical seas some fish are found to be always poisonous wherever
and whenever caught, but there are numerous instances where wholesome
fish become noxious when found in certain localities, especially on
coral reefs and shoals. Fish when feeding on decomposing coral polyps,
medusæ, and poisonous mollusks found on these reefs often become
noxious, as the following instance will prove: Midway between Cuba,
Hayti, and Jamaica lie the extensive reefs and shoals of the Formigas,
which are several miles in extent and covered by a small depth of
water. These shoals present a concentration of all the incidents to be
found in West Indian fringing shore reefs. Arborescent corals and
spreading millepores stretch on walls and ledges, interspersed with
huge meandrinas and brainstones, among which lodge a profusion of
_Holothurias_, starfishes, and a variety of sponges. This great mass
of reefs, called from their clustering swarm the Ants' Nest, or the
Formigas, abound with all sorts of fishes. As you approach the great
submarine plateau, the odor of the slime and of the spermatic
substances that find a resting place in the crevices and shallow pools
spread through it is very remarkable--the pleasant blandness of the
sea breeze suddenly changing to the nauseating smell of a fish market.
Those who have waded on tropical shore reefs know not only the strong
scent given out by the polyps that build there, but feel how sensibly
the hands are affected, and how the skin of the thighs is susceptible
of a stinging irritation from the slightest contact with the slime of
corals. It has been found by invariable experience that all the fishes
taken on the Formigas are pernicious; that the barracudas especially
are always poisonous. Similar stretches of shoals among the Bahamas
produce fishes deleterious as food.

The low-spreading ledges and banks of the Virgin Islands, called the
Anegadas, or the Drowned Islands, afford a similar unfavorable ground
for fishing. In this way we may account for the remark of Dr. Grainger
that fishes are poisonous at one end of St. Christopher while they are
harmless at another. We get over, by these several incidents of those
fishing grounds, the adventitious occurrence of poisonous among
wholesome fishes, which become deleterious from the food on which they
subsist at certain seasons on certain banks and coasts.

Again, in the tropics wholesome fish soon become virulently poisonous
if kept too long, as the fierce heat favors rapid decomposition. In
this short article I have only space for a description of the most
common and injurious fishes met with in the West Indies. One of the
commonest fish in these seas is the barracuda (_Sphyræna barracuda_),
which can be easily recognized by its elongated body, covered with
cycloid scales. The color is dark olive-green on the back, fading to a
lighter green on the sides, while its under surface is silvery white.
The mouth is wide and curved, with long and sharp teeth. These fishes
are large and voracious, often attaining the length of six feet; and
as they are usually found close inshore, amid the heaviest surf, they
are as much feared by fishermen and bathers as the shark. Indeed, they
are more to be feared, for the shark as a rule is timid, and unless
extremely hungry is cautious in its voracity. The barracuda, on the
contrary, is very bold. The shark flees from a splashing in the water,
but the barracuda goes there to see what he may find, as he is only
attracted by live bait. The wounds inflicted by the barracuda are
exceedingly severe and sometimes fatal.

When young this fish is generally used as food, but having attained a
certain size the flesh becomes exceedingly noxious, at least at
certain seasons of the year. This change is said to be due to the
poisonous fish on which they feed. When caught on certain banks, as
the Formigas, their flesh is always extremely unwholesome, and, as
Kingsley says, they have this advantage, that while they can always
eat you, you can not often eat them with impunity. The Cubans, as a
rule, will not touch this fish, and at Santa Cruz it is the custom
never to eat it till the next day, and then not till after salting it;
but that is apparently no safeguard, as four persons living in
Kingston, Jamaica, suffered severely after eating "corned barracuda."

It is stated that when unwholesome, its teeth will be found of a
blackened color at the base, and on inserting a silver coin into its
flesh this will also turn black. The poisonous symptoms caused by this
fish are peculiar, and were strongly marked in the case of a friend of
mine who was a solicitor living in Barbados. He and several others who
had partaken of the same fish suffered from severe gastro-intestinal
disorder, with intense nausea and vomiting. His face swelled up and
became tubercular like a leper; afterward, general muscular tremblings
and acute pain about the body, particularly in the joints of his hands
and arms, came on. The nails of his feet and hands became black and
fell off without any pain, and his hair also fell out. For years after
he suffered from debility and tubercular skin eruptions. Death
sometimes follows, but those who do not die suffer for a long time
from its effects, which in some cases last for twenty-five years.

The "yellow-tailed sprat" (_Clupea thrissa_) is common in the West
Indies, and may be recognized by having its last dorsal ray prolonged
into a filament. A black spot behind the gill cover is said to
distinguish it from a somewhat similar fish, the "red-eared pilchard,"
which has a yellow spot behind its gill cover. Schomburgk gives
testimony to the poisonous properties of the "yellow-tailed sprat"
when found at certain periods of the year among the Leeward and Virgin
Islands.

The eating of this poisonous "sprat" is said to be followed by most
violent symptoms and rapid death. The common saying in the West
Indies--that if you begin at the head you never have time to finish
the tail--is almost literally true.

The eating of the roe of this "sprat" caused in Japan, in the year
1884, twenty-three deaths. The victims suffered from severe
inflammation of the mouth and throat, strong abdominal pain,
formication in the arms and legs, disorders of vision, paralysis,
convulsions, and loss of consciousness. Nausea, vomiting, and
diarrhoea often occurred. Death followed in some cases in a quarter of
an hour, but mostly in from two to three hours.

Lacroix describes a case of poisoning through eating the "sprat" which
occurred on board a French man-of-war. Out of a crew of fifty men,
thirty were dangerously ill and five died. The men experienced strong
muscular cramps in the arms and legs, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea.
Afterward congestion of the brain, delirium, and coma supervened.

Most of the cases of fish poisoning which I have met with in the West
Indies have been due to eating various kinds of "snappers," especially
the "gray snapper." The tropical species are very numerous and
difficult to differentiate, owing to their frequent change of color
according to age and surroundings. In 1897, at St. Georges, Grenada,
twelve persons who partook of a large gray snapper were attacked with
severe symptoms of fish poisoning. A few hours after the meal all
these were suffering from pain and fullness in the stomach, followed
by persistent vomiting, severe cramps, watery evacuations, weak,
thready pulse, and labored respirations. One of the victims was
examined by me four months afterward, and he stated that, owing to
intense weakness, he had been forced to keep his bed for several
months, during which period he suffered from various nervous
disorders. He had shooting pains and tingling of the limbs, dimness of
vision, and quick, thready pulse.

In 1893 seventeen persons living in Bridgetown, Barbados, were
attacked by similar symptoms to those mentioned above. All these had
eaten of a fish which had been hawked about by a fisherman, and which
was subsequently identified as a "gray snapper," though sold under a
more innocent name.

A Spanish naval surgeon, Don Anton Jurado, while serving on board the
gunboat Magallanes had an opportunity of proving Poey's statement that
the fishes caught on the coast of Cuba are often very poisonous. No
less than twenty-seven of the officers and men were taken ill, most of
them with gastro-intestinal disturbance of a more or less severe
nature; the others suffered from nervous symptoms.

The horse mackerel, green cavalla, and the jack are often found most
unwholesome when caught in West Indian waters.

In Barbados a whole family were seized with symptoms simulating
cholera from eating "green cavalla."

The editor of The Barbadian writes: "We think it right to caution
people against the fish called 'green cavalla' from being purchased by
their cooks. Some years ago we know that several individuals were
extremely ill from eating this fish, which is frequently very
poisonous. The night before last a whole family in Bridgetown, except
the master, who fortunately had dined out, were seized with violent
cholera after having partaken of cavalla."

The "jack" (_Caran plumieri_) is found to be poisonous in some seasons
of the year, and it is said that at such times two small red lumps
appear in its gills. When they are suspected of being in a poisonous
condition an experiment is tried upon a duck by giving her one of them
to swallow, and if at that season it is poisonous the duck dies in
about two hours. The "rock hind," or "smoky hind," after attaining a
certain size becomes most unwholesome, and often infested with
parasites. Numerous instances of severe symptoms attacking persons
after eating this fish are recorded.

Toadfish, or _Tetrodons_, are occasionally met with, and are to be
avoided as being extremely poisonous, especially if the roe or liver
be eaten. A family of coolies in Trinidad, in spite of being warned,
ate one of these fishes, with a fatal result. The symptoms were
blunted sensibility, trembling, general muscular weakness, difficulty
of breathing, vomiting of blood, convulsions, and death.

The _Diodonts_, "trunkfishes," are not nearly so poisonous as the
_Tetrodonts_, but they are found to be very noxious at certain times
or in certain localities, more especially if the gall bladder, liver,
and intestines are not removed before cooking. It is reported that
those persons who had eaten them suffered from loss of sensibility,
cold sweat over the whole body, and stiffened limbs. Death followed in
some cases.

The "prickly bottle fish" (_Diodon orbicularis_), met with in the Gulf
of Mexico, is said to be injurious when eaten.

The _Ostracion triqueter_, called in the West Indies "fair maid,"
"plate fish," "trunkfish," is often eaten with no ill effects by the
negroes, who, after cleaning it, bake it in its hard shell-like
covering. There is, however, a gelatinous matter near the tail which
is called "the jelly," and a similar substance is found near the
head. When only part of this jelly has been eaten its effects are a
peculiar vertigo, nausea, vomiting, pains all over the body, more
especially in the limbs. The feeling of vertigo is similar to that of
intoxication, hence the fish has been called "drunken fish."

The "filefishes," or "trigger fishes," when found in the tropics,
where they feed on coral polypi, have the reputation of being most
unwholesome.

In the West Indies "sea eels," or murenas, are only eaten by the
negroes. The blood of eels is said by Mosso to contain a poison like
that of vipers. It is related that a man drank some eel's blood mixed
with wine, and was in consequence seized with severe diarrhoea,
disturbance of vision, foaming at the mouth, and stertorous breathing.
He ultimately recovered after vigorous treatment.

Dr. Gordon, of Montego Bay, Jamaica, records a case of death from
eating the flesh and liver of a species of coast conger (_Gymnothorax
restratus_). In spite of treatment, the man died after a lingering
illness.

Space will not permit me to dwell in this article on the remaining
noxious fishes, but it is to be hoped that enough has been written to
teach people to be cautious in their selection of fish when in the
West Indies.




THE COLORS OF NORTHERN FLOWERS.

BY JOHN H. LOVELL.


For profusion of bloom and brilliancy of coloring, the land of the
tropics, with all its luxuriance of vegetation, can offer nothing to
compare with a New England meadow in June. Along the great rivers of
the South or in the islands of the East strange and beautiful flowers
occur individually or in small groups, but the traveler looks in vain
for myriads of blossoms giving a distinctive coloring to the landscape
itself. It was long the popular notion that the colors of flowers were
of no importance except as they gave human pleasure. This idea has
been made familiar by a well-known line of Gray's Elegy. It was a
German pastor, Christian Conrad Sprengel, at the close of the last
century, who first pointed out their true significance. So
enthusiastically did he pursue his botanical studies that he neglected
the duties of his office, and finally even omitted the Sunday sermon.
The natural result followed, that he was deprived of his parish. In
straitened circumstances he then sought unsuccessfully to maintain
himself at Berlin by giving lessons in botany and Sunday excursions in
search of plants. His book, now a botanical classic, attracted but
little attention; his publisher did not even send him a copy of it,
and in disgust he turned from the study of plants to that of
languages. The title of the work, The Secret of Nature in the Form and
Fertilization of Flowers Discovered, affords us the pleasure of
knowing that he rightly estimated the importance of his observations.
Sprengel clearly states that the bright hues of flowers, as is now
well established, serve as signals to attract the attention of
nectar-loving insects flying near by. He was led to this conclusion
very fitly by the study of _Myosotis_, the "forget-me-not." He has not
been forgotten. His name and theory were rescued from obscurity by
Darwin; his book a few years ago was reprinted at Leipsic, and is now
universally recognized, says H. Müller, as having "struck out a new
path in botanical science."

A day's stroll through the fields and woodlands is sufficient to show
that yellow and white blossoms are in Nature more common than red or
blue. From an examination of 741 New England and Eastern species
belonging to 48 families (see table) it appears that 164 are yellow,
283 white, 71 red, 136 blue and purple, and 87 green. Greenish flowers
occur in 25 families, yellow in 29, white in 32, red in 16, purple and
blue in 22.

_The Predominant Colors of the Flowers of Ranunculaceæ to Cornaceæ in
the Northern States._

  --------------+---------+--------+--------+--------+---------+--------
                | Yellow. | White. |  Red.  | Blue.  | Green.  | Total.
  --------------+---------+--------+--------+--------+---------+--------
  Ranunculaceæ  |   19    |   19   |    2   |   14   |    6    |   60
  Magnoliaceæ   |    1    |    4   |   ..   |   ..   |    1    |    6
  Anonaceæ      |   ..    |   ..   |   ..   |    1   |   ..    |    1
  Menispermaceæ |   ..    |    2   |   ..   |   ..   |    1    |    3
  Berberaceæ    |    2    |    3   |   ..   |   ..   |    1    |    6
  Nymphæaceæ    |    3    |    2   |   ..   |    1   |   ..    |    6
  Sarraceniaceæ |    1    |   ..   |   ..   |    1   |   ..    |    2
  Papaveraceæ   |    4    |    2   |    2   |   ..   |   ..    |    8
  Fumariaceæ    |    2    |    3   |    2   |    1   |   ..    |    8
  Cruciferæ     |   17    |   37   |    2   |    5   |    4    |   65
  Capparidaceæ  |   ..    |    1   |   ..   |   ..   |   ..    |    1
  Resedaceæ     |    1    |   ..   |   ..   |   ..   |   ..    |    1
  Violaceæ      |    4    |    6   |   ..   |    8   |   ..    |   18
  Cistaceæ      |    4    |   ..   |   ..   |   ..   |    4    |    8
  Droseraceæ    |   ..    |    3   |    1   |   ..   |   ..    |    4
  Hyperaceæ     |   18    |   ..   |    2   |   ..   |   ..    |   20
  Elatinaceæ    |   ..    |   ..   |   ..   |   ..   |    1    |    1
  Caryophyllaceæ|   ..    |   32   |   15   |   ..   |    6    |   53
  Portulaceæ    |    1    |   ..   |    3   |    1   |   ..    |    5
  Malvaceæ      |    5    |    4   |   10   |    3   |   ..    |   22
  Tiliaceæ      |   ..    |    2   |   ..   |   ..   |   ..    |    2
  Camilliaceæ   |   ..    |    2   |   ..   |   ..   |   ..    |    2
  Linaceæ       |    3    |   ..   |   ..   |    1   |   ..    |    4
  Geraniaceæ    |    3    |    2   |    2   |    6   |   ..    |   13
  Rutaceæ       |   ..    |    2   |   ..   |   ..   |    1    |    3
  Anarcardiaceæ |    1    |   ..   |   ..   |   ..   |    5    |    6
  Vitaceæ       |   ..    |   ..   |   ..   |   ..   |    7    |    7
  Rhamnaceæ     |   ..    |    3   |   ..   |   ..   |    4    |    7
  Celastraceæ   |   ..    |   ..   |   ..   |    2   |    1    |    3
  Sapindaceæ    |    2    |    2   |    2   |   ..   |    5    |   11
  Polygalaceæ   |    2    |    3   |    4   |    5   |   ..    |   14
  Leguminosæ    |   19    |   28   |    6   |   61   |    2    |  116
  Rosaceæ       |   19    |   44   |   13   |    2   |    2    |   80
  Calycanthaceæ |   ..    |   ..   |   ..   |    3   |   ..    |    3
  Saxifragaceæ  |    2    |   20   |   ..   |    1   |   13    |   36
  Crassulaceæ   |    2    |    3   |    1   |    2   |    1    |    9
  Hammelaceæ    |    1    |    1   |   ..   |   ..   |    1    |    3
  Halorageæ     |   ..    |   ..   |   ..   |   ..   |    9    |    9
  Onagraceæ     |   15    |    2   |    4   |    5   |    4    |   30
  Melastomaceæ  |   ..    |   ..   |   ..   |    3   |   ..    |    3
  Lythraceæ     |   ..    |    1   |   ..   |    8   |   ..    |    9
  Loasaceæ      |    1    |   ..   |   ..   |   ..   |   ..    |    1
  Cactaceæ      |    3    |    1   |   ..   |   ..   |   ..    |    2
  Cucurbitaceæ  |   ..    |    2   |   ..   |   ..   |    1    |    3
  Umbelliferæ   |    8    |   33   |   ..   |    2   |    2    |   45
  Araliaceæ     |   ..    |    3   |   ..   |   ..   |    3    |    6
  Cornaceæ      |   ..    |   11   |   ..   |   ..   |    2    |   13
                |---------+--------+--------+--------+---------+--------
      Total     |  164    |  283   |   71   |  136   |   87    |  741
  --------------+---------+--------+--------+--------+---------+--------

Yellow appears to have been the first color developed, and flowers
with this coloration are usually simple and regular in structure, as
the buttercups and five-fingers. But why, it will be asked, should
yellow have been the primitive color? The spores and spore-cases of
the club mosses, and the pollen of all cone-bearing trees, and, in
fact, of most plants, are yellow, and the yellow coloration of the
first petals is doubtless correlated with this fact. Flowers of this
tint are peculiarly attractive to yellow-banded flies, and when dull
are avoided by beetles. Yellow flowers vary greatly in size, but pale
yellow flowers are usually small, and bright or orange-yellow are
large. _Ranunculus abortivus_ and _R. sceleratus_, which grow in wet
places, are small and pale, while _R. bulbosus_ and _R. acris_, the
familiar buttercups of our meadows, are an inch broad. An apparent
exception to the above rule is offered by the globe-flower (_Trollius
laxus_), found in dense swamps, which has solitary, very large, pale
greenish-yellow flowers. As the cultivated European and Asiatic
species have bright yellow flowers, the coloring of the sepals of _T.
laxus_, for the petals are wanting, has probably retrograded from
growing in dense shade.

Yellow flowers in their natural state exhibit but little variation of
color. They change most readily to white, and less often to red or
blue. Under cultivation sudden variations from yellow to white have
been observed. A double yellow hollyhock, according to Darwin,
suddenly turned one year into a single white kind, and a chrysanthemum
has been seen to bear both yellow and white flowers. It will be
observed in the accompanying table that in all families in which
yellow flowers are common, white are also common, except in the
_Hyperaceæ_, which contain no white-flowered species. Some species of
mustard regularly fade to white, while many white flowers show that
they are descended from ancestral yellow forms by retaining vestiges
of this color on the base of the petals, as in the water-crowfoot. The
pale yellow flowers of _Oenothera laciniata_, of the cultivated _Ribes
aureum_, and of _Diervilla trifida_ in fading change to rose or red,
exhibiting a tendency to develop red coloration. _Aquilegia
canadensis_ produces scarlet flowers, which are yellow inside and
rarely all over. There are two other species in the Northern flora
which exhibit similar coloring, _Lonicera sempervirens_ and _Spigelia
marylandica_, and the former is sometimes yellow throughout.
_Myosotis_ is at first pale yellow, and changes to sky-blue. But the
best illustration of the transition from yellow to blue is exhibited
by the violet family; the smallest and simplest species is yellow, the
most highly specialized is blue, and all the intermediate stages are
presented by _Viola tricolor_.

Honey-guides are exceedingly rare among yellow flowers. _Cassia
chamæcrista_, which has nearly regular, showy yellow flowers, has two
or three petals with a purple spot at base, while four of the anthers
are yellow and six purple. It is interesting to compare with this
flower the change of color presented by _Arnebia_. When the flower
opens, each lobe of the yellow corolla is marked by a dark purple
spot, which soon begins to fade, and by the next day has entirely
disappeared. _Saxifraga aizoides_ has golden flowers spotted with
orange, and attracts a large number of insect visitors, and the yellow
violets have their petals marked with dark-brown lines leading to the
honey glands. Sulphur-yellow flowers are visited chiefly by
bumblebees, and their coloration seems to have been developed by their
selective influence from red or purple-flowered ancestors. Müller
observed that the sulphur-yellow flowers of _Sempervivum Wulfenii_,
which are unlike the primitive yellow of the _Crassulaceæ_, are purple
at base. This purple coloring he believed to be a remnant inherited
from an earlier purple-flowered form. _Hibiscus trionum_, which is
sulphur-yellow with a blackish eye, has perhaps been derived from a
red-flowered ancestor, for the three other species of the genus are
rose or flesh colored.

White flowers, in the opinion of the writer, are due to retrogression,
and are derived from yellow, red, or blue, and in some instances from
the primitive green, as in the involucre of _Cornus_. As a whole they
present no advance in specialization over yellow flowers, and are
often smaller and less conspicuous. When the petals of blossoms
containing yellow, red, or blue pigments are placed in concentrated
alcohol they turn to white. To produce these pigments is evidently
more or less a tax upon the energies of the plant, which, whenever
possible, is avoided. They are not present in the embryonic buds, and
may not develop until they are well advanced in size. In _Gentiana
crinita_ the yellowish-white bud is nearly an inch long before the
purple coloring appears, and the corolla always remains white at base.
A stimulus to the growth of the plant makes itself apparent in the
increased brilliancy of the flowers, as when they are exposed to clear
sunlight or are treated with nitrate of soda, and may also be observed
in the flushing of tulips, by which they lose their variegated colors
when treated with strong manure. On the other hand, a check in
nutrition and growth will cause a diminution of the perianth in size,
accompanied by retrogression in color. When double red poppies are
transplanted the whole plant is dwarfed, while the flowers are much
smaller and pure white. This view of the origin of white flowers
explains why they are the commonest in Nature, accounts for their
being most numerous in families in which yellow flowers are likewise
numerous, and why they are most true to name under cultivation. Many
white flowers also exhibit other evidences of degeneration in their
structure. Numerous species of _Cruciferæ_ and _Caryophyllaceæ_ have
small white flowers, which regularly fertilize themselves; and in
_Lepidium_, _Stellaria_, and _Sagina_ the petals are sometimes present
and in other instances are wanting.

White flowers often develop red or blue coloration. It is interesting
to note that the red and white varieties of the hyacinth were derived
from the wild blue form earlier than the yellow. Darwin gives an
instance of a white and red rose produced on the same root, also of
white and pink flowers on a single plant of _Antirrhinum majus_.
_Cratægus oxyacantha_, a dark pink hawthorn, has been known to throw
out a tuft of pure white blossoms. Every stage of the transition from
white to red is placed before us by the rose family. The thorns are
white, rarely tinged with rose; in the pear and apple the flowers are
white, regularly shaded with red; and one of the _Spiræas_ is rose,
rarely white, while in the roses proper the six species are
rose-colored, but the prairie rose changes to white. Under cultivation
the wild geranium has been seen to produce upon the same plant both
white and blue flowers. Good examples of the transition from white to
blue and from blue to white may be met with in the _Ranunculaceæ_ and
_Leguminosæ_. _Delphinium tricorne_ is bright blue, sometimes white,
_Viola canadensis_ has the petals white inside but the upper ones
tinged with violet beneath, _Astragalus_ has a part of the species
white and a part purple, while it is common to find blue and white
varieties of _Hepatica_ growing on the same grassy bank. White flowers
pass more readily into red, blue, or yellow than any one of these
colors can be converted into any other, since it is easier to develop
a new pigment than to transform one already existing. This is
confirmed by the experience of florists, who always seek to obtain a
white variety from which to develop the desired hue.

Red flowers are much rarer than blue, and both are seldom common in
the same family. For instance, in the pink family red and white
blossoms prevail, and there are no blue shades. The pinks are crimson
and scarlet, often with elegant markings and a strong aromatic odor.
The honey is deeply concealed, and they are visited almost exclusively
by butterflies and millers. Twenty-eight species of diurnal
_Lepidoptera_ have been collected upon a single variety of
_Saponaria_. Of the eighty species of _Rosaceæ_, thirteen are red and
two purple, but the forty-four white flowers are very generally tinged
or tipped with red. The two purplish-flowered species, _Geum rivale_
and _Potentilla palustris_, belong to genera in which yellow
predominates, and this primitive color is still evident in both their
calyx and corolla. There are no blue or violet flowers. This family
exhibits a marked tendency both in stem, leaf, bud, flower, and fruit
to develop reddish coloration, a tendency which is probably due to the
chemical constitution of the sap. There are no flowers in this family
adapted to _Lepidoptera_, but they are visited by a mixed company of
flies, beetles, and _Hymenoptera_. The smaller and less specialized
_Rosaceæ_ are yellow and white and are visited by a variety of
short-lipped insects. With the increase of the flower in size and
conspicuousness the number of insect visitors greatly increases, and
the enlargement of the flower is attended by red coloration. Owing to
the chemical constitution of the nutritive fluid, probably to its
acidity (for when the petals of a rose are treated with ammonia they
become blue), there has been no opportunity for the development of
blue coloration by insects. With the enlargement of the perianth and
the increased flow of sap, red tints have tended to appear by process
of oxidation.

The correlation of red coloring with an increased flow of sap is well
illustrated by the galls of the wild-rose tree, which are often "as
rosy as the rosiest apple." An abnormal flow of sap is caused to the
part stung by the insect, and red coloration is due to the action of
light, for it is of no service to the plant. Again, when the flowers
of _Cratægus coccinea_ are stung by the gall-fly the different organs
all become bright red, and the change in coloring is accompanied by an
increase in size. In some instances red colors, according to Darwin,
indicate greater vigor on the part of the plant, and I have also
observed that the dwarfing of red flowers under cultivation may cause
them to revert to white.

It was long, indeed, believed that the same species could not produce
yellow, red, and blue flowers. But this doctrine, to use the words of
Dr. Lindley, "must now be laid up in the limbo of pleasant dreams."
This supposed law is contradicted by the hyacinth, pansy, _Delphinium
cardinale_, and many other plants. Though red and blue coloring never
occurs among the roses, a hyacinth has been seen to produce a
perfectly pink and a perfectly blue blossom on the same truss, and the
_Borraginaceæ_ afford examples of flowers turning from red to blue in
even a short space of time.

Blue is the highest color of the floral world, and is preferred by
bees. Blue flowers are, as a rule, highly specialized both in form and
color, and often possess marvelous mechanisms which aid in
disseminating the pollen. This coloring is very common in the mint and
pulse families, and in this district there are in the former
forty-nine and in the latter sixty-one species of blue flowers. Their
structure is such that few insects besides the long-tongued bees can
gain access to the honey, and in some instances a single species of
flower is visited by a single kind of bee, as one of the larkspurs by
one of the bumblebees. While this high specialization of the flower
may insure intercrossing, it is yet open to many objections, such as
scarcity of proper guests, mechanical imperfections, perforation of
the flowers by bees, and development of the perianth at the expense of
the essential organs.

It is noteworthy that when genera occur containing three or more
species they are seldom all blue or purple; one species at least, and
frequently more than one, is yellow, white, or red. In _Trifolium_,
_T. pratense_ is rose-purple, _T. repens_ white, and _T. agrarium_
yellow. In the genus _Astragalus_ a part of the species are violet or
blue and a part white, and the same is true of _Lespedeza_ and
_Vicia_; in _Lathyrus_ three species are blue-purple, one yellow, and
one yellowish white. It is probably more advantageous in these genera
for a part of the species to be of one color and a part of another
than for all to be blue. When species are closely allied bees tend to
visit them indiscriminately, as has been observed to be true of the
buttercups, _Spiræas_, and golden-rods. During an afternoon the writer
carefully collected the insect visitors to _Solidago bicolor_, our
only cream-colored golden-rod. Both the number of species and of
individuals taken was much larger than upon the yellow-flowered and
more abundant varieties of this genus growing near by. There could be
no doubt that the whitish coloration was beneficial in enabling
insects to distinguish it more readily. Many purplish flowers are
regular, often showing indications of degeneration, are devoid of
honey, and are self-fertilized or adapted to _Diptera_, or, as in
_Hepatica_, which is visited by bees for the pollen, open to a wide
circle of visitors. In the sea purslane (_Sesuvium maritimum_), a
prostrate maritime herb, there are no petals, but the five-parted
calyx is purplish inside. The genus _Ammannia_ of the _Lythraceæ_ has
the petals small, purplish, and in one species they are wanting; the
axillary flowers of _Bracenia purpurea_ are small and dull purple; in
the common papaw the lurid purple flowers are large and adapted to
_Diptera_, as are probably the lurid purple flowers of _Calycanthus_.
Blue flowers may revert to red, white, or yellow. The fringed
_Polygala_ of Britain is usually bright blue, but often reverts to
pink and white; there is a pure white variety of the blue-eyed grass;
_Mertensia virginica_ is purple-blue, rarely white; the larkspur is
bright blue, sometimes white, and a white variety of the purple
_Trillium_ frequently occurs; there is, indeed, no improbability of a
white-flowered form of every species being discovered. _Viola
calcarata_ is normally blue, but sometimes changes to the ancestral
yellow.

The possession of a strong scent may, however, in many instances more
than compensate for the absence of color. This is well illustrated in
_Lepidium sativum_. The flowers are small and inconspicuous and in
rainy weather do not fully open, yet, as it is odoriferous, Müller
found it more abundantly visited by insects than any other crucifer.
It is their strong odor, rather than their color, that renders so many
umbellifers so attractive to a great variety of insects. Nocturnal
flowers, which are visited by moths, are usually white and
sweet-scented, though the evening primrose is yellow and _Saponaria
officinalis_ is rose-colored. Kohler and Schübeler have shown that a
larger proportion of white flowers are fragrant than of any other
color. Of 1,193 white flowers examined by them, 187 were odoriferous;
of 951 yellow, 75; of 923 red, 85; of 594 blue, 31. But neither color
nor odor will long alone serve to insure the visits of insects. The
common elderberry exhibits the disadvantages which may attend the want
of honey when there is but a limited supply of pollen. There are great
masses of odoriferous flowers which convert the shrub into a huge
bouquet, but it blooms at midsummer, when it must contend with many
nectar-yielding plants. As a result, it is almost wholly deserted by
insects. Only four species of flies have been taken upon it, and
repeatedly the blossoms were examined without discovering a single
visitor, and yet upon the jewel-weed and the red-osier cornel, a few
yards away, scores were at work.

       *       *       *       *       *

     Among the more recent applications of electricity is one for the
     desiccation of wood, by the Nadon Bretonneau method, by which
     wood is made as fit for use for certain exact processes in as
     many months as it has formerly taken years. It is also proposed
     by Mr. Shaw, an English mining engineer, to substitute water and
     steam for gunpowder in mine blasts, a cartridge of water being
     placed instead of the powder cartridge, and vaporized by passing
     the electrical current through it.




SKETCH OF OSCAR SCHMIDT.


Oscar Schmidt was characterized by Ludwig von Graff, his successor at
Grätz, as a real naturalist who, keeping up with the advances of
science and philosophy all his life, as a zoölogist spanned the whole
domain of that science, giving equal interest to every part and branch
of it. The animal as a whole, as a living being in the series of
organisms, was the object of his concern, and all the parts of the
animal and all the processes that go on within it were alike
interesting and important to him; and the ultimate purpose of his
study of that object was to gain from the facts disclosed a
philosophic view of Nature.

EDUARD OSCAR SCHMIDT was born at Torgau, Prussia, February 24, 1823,
the son of a military chaplain who was descended from an old family of
clergymen--"a man of fine Saxon culture, with no very great taste for
theology, and open-minded to a ripe old age," and who died in 1875.
His mother was of French and German (Hamburg) descent, and counted the
great Aristotelian Petrus Ramus among her ancestors. The father was a
gentle instructor to the son; and the latter, attending in the
intervals of study to duties of the household and the farm and making
good use of his opportunities for relaxation, enjoyed a young life
that was invigorating to mind and body. He thus acquired tastes that
led him frequently in his later life to leave the city and his study
and go into the country to build and plant, whereby he endeared
himself to the Badenese farmers. On rainy days and winter evenings, as
he gleefully told of himself in 1858, the boy of eleven or twelve
years of age entertained himself and had his fancy stimulated by
reading Campe's old accounts of his travels. He thus became interested
in geography, and acquired a thirst for travel that was never
quenched.

Having finished his elementary schooling at Weissenfels, on the Saale,
where his grandfather had served as superintendent, he went in 1836 to
the celebrated Royal School at Pforta, of which his father was an
alumnus, and whither he himself took his son thirty years later. He
was much impressed by the teaching of Koberstein, the historian of
literature, who unlocked for him the world of Goethe and of romance;
and he went out from Pforta into life with a full conviction that the
soundness of our culture depends upon its humanistic foundation. He
went to Halle in the fall of 1842 to fulfill his military obligations
and study mathematics and natural science, and became interested in
other branches. At the Berlin Hochschule, whither he went next, he
further broadened the scope of his culture, pursued philosophical
studies, and finally settled upon the organic sciences. His interest
was gradually diverted from mathematics, and he took up zoölogy with
enthusiasm. Johann Müller--whose portrait, his son Erich Schmidt says,
in the memorial address from which we draw most of the facts of his
life, always adorned his room--permitted him, in 1845, after a summer
term in comparative anatomy at Heligoland, to take part in a research
upon sea animals, and impressed a stamp on the young investigator's
view of Nature that lasted till the Darwinian revolution. Christian
Gottfried Ehrenberg interested him in the investigation of the minute
life of the infusoria, and, besides being his teacher, had a fatherly
affection for him.

In 1846 Schmidt obtained a promotion to Doctor of Philosophy at Halle,
the subject of his still unprinted dissertation being the sacred
_Scarabæus_. He passed the higher teachers' examination in Berlin, and
thereby avoided a year of probation at a realgymnasium. In August,
1847, he habilitated himself at Jena. He presented, on the occasion, a
paper entitled Morphological Fragments, in which, while the name of
Oken was mentioned appreciatively in the introduction, the gap between
his philosophy and the current zoölogy was insisted upon. He became
Professor Extraordinary of Natural History in this university in 1849,
and Director of the Grand Ducal Zoölogical Museum in 1854. While at
Jena he published the Handbook of Comparative Anatomy (1849), the Hand
Atlas of Comparative Anatomy (1852), and a historical study on the
Development of Comparative Anatomy (1855). Some results of a journey
to the North in the course of his studies of the _Turbellaria_ were
embodied in a lecture on the Faroe Islands (1848), and Pictures from
the North, collected during a Journey to the North Cape (1854), a
versatile work, in which his sharp powers of observation were well
illustrated. A work of somewhat different character was a lecture on
Goethe's Relation to the Organic Natural Sciences, which was delivered
in the Berlin Singakademie and was printed in 1853.

Having occupied the professorship at Jena for seven years on a salary
never exceeding one hundred thalers, and after declining an invitation
to Prague, Schmidt in 1855 accepted the appointment of Professor of
Zoölogy in the University of Cracow. The conditions at this
institution were quite different from those which had surrounded him
at Jena. He received more liberal allowances than had been granted him
there; but political affairs were disturbed, and he withdrew in 1857
to become Professor of Zoölogy and Comparative Anatomy, and eventually
rector, at Grätz. Here he spent the fifteen most enjoyable and most
fruitful years of his life, of which his son, Erich Schmidt, has
given, in his memorial address, a most pleasant picture. "In the
magnificent scenery," he says, "among which he often wandered with his
growing children, with warm-hearted men around him, sure of the
increasing affection and capacity of his students, he reached his
culmination as a naturalist and as a man. He was active in every
direction. The university was in a very promising period of its
career. A medical faculty was required, and that magnified his
function. He also represented his department in the Johanneum, and
presided over the museum. He went every year to Dalmatia while he was
composing his monograph on the sponges, and made experiments in their
artificial cultivation, being given one year a small war steamer at
his disposal. These journeys were doubly enjoyed when Franz Unger went
with him to Lesina or to the Ionian Islands. He and the great botanist
had a close community of interests, and it was an inestimable
privilege, during the great scientific crisis, to stand shoulder to
shoulder with an older man, who to power of following philosophical
intricacies united the habit of the most exact research with finely
trained effort and suggestive intuition. Together the two devoted
themselves to the study of Darwinism, at first opposed to it, as is
shown by one of Schmidt's printed essays, but soon becoming impressed
with the conviction that all scientific progress was connected with
that revolution, and finally Schmidt gave all his energy to the
advancement of it. As Rector Magnificus--the first Protestant to wear
the golden chain at an Austrian university--he declared himself, in
his inaugural address, for Darwinism with a resoluteness peculiar to
him, and neither the silly demonstrations of the theological students
nor the wrath of Cardinal Rauscher could intimidate him from the
vindication of free investigation.... The rectoral year 1865-'66 was
also the year of the Austro-Prussian War, and he now proved that the
rashly progressive man to whom the whole clash of opinions was a bath
of steel also possessed a considerable measure of self-control. He
bore himself correctly in every sense in his difficult position, and,
without turning his back upon his native Prussia, he so completely
devoted himself to the care of the wounded as to receive a note of
thanks from the General Archduke Albrecht. Having been chosen a deputy
to the Landtag, his voice was always heard in favor of the Liberal
side. He served indefatigably in the communal council and the school
board. The Protestant communes depended upon him as one of their most
effective champions, even to the end of the partisan contest. Besides
all this many-sided scientific and public-spirited activity, Schmidt
had time to describe the lower animals for Brehm's _Thierleben_, and
to write a number of popular treatises. A lively social disposition
bound him to numerous colleagues, and on the whole he felt so much at
home in Grätz, especially after he had a new institute and a share in
the direction of a zoölogical station at Trieste in prospect, that he
had no thought of a change. He declined invitations to Marburg and
Dorpat. He was always favored by the Government, and kept the marks of
its consideration faithfully in memory."

Ludwig von Graff describes three plainly marked periods in Schmidt's
scientific career. The first, the beginning of which coincided with
his entrance into his scientific professorship, was characterized by
his labors on the _Turbellaria_, from which he was only occasionally
diverted during his residence at Jena and Cracow. "The observations on
infusoria, radiates, and tapeworms, the structure of the annelids and
the development of the mollusks, the descriptions of new amphibia, and
the important discovery of the crustacean nature of the peltogasters,
were, we might say, only rests in the uninterrupted course of the
_Turbellaria_ studies; and that Schmidt was constantly returning to
them was not merely because particular interest had been devoted to
them in Germany at that time only by M. Schultze and R. Leuckart, for
other animal groups had fared no better among the then small number of
scientifically working zoölogists, but Schmidt had won his earliest
scientific fame with his little book on the fresh-water _Rhabdocoelas_
(1848), and had by means of it entered the circle of recognized
investigators. He gave in this book the first connected presentation
of the whole organization of a group of animals, the diversity and
great abundance of which in fresh water were hardly suspected, and the
anatomy of which consisted of few and imperfectly understood isolated
data; described new systems of organs in them, and based an improved
classification on their remarkably complicated and variously graded
structure, with new families, genera, and species. The little book was
therefore received with much interest. A journey to the Faroe Islands
in 1848, and his first excursion to Lesina in 1852, followed in 1856
by a journey from Cracow to Nice and Naples, enabled him to increase
the number of new species, and permitted an insight into the great
diversity of forms, without, however, giving him time for accurate
anatomical investigations, for the nature of the objects promised a
considerable advance in this direction only at the cost of tenacious
patience and untiring industry. His subsequent labors on the
_Rhabdocoelas_ of the vicinity of Cracow, the _Dendrocoelas_ of the
vicinity of Grätz, and his researches on the _Turbellaria_ of Corfu
and Cephalonia, which (in 1861) closed this period of his career as
worthily as it had begun, proved that Schmidt possessed both these
requirements. These labors, if he had accomplished no more, would
have been sufficient to give him an honorable position in science for
all time.

"The second period begins in Grätz. Some contributions to the
knowledge of the prehistoric vertebrate fauna of Steiermarck resulted
from Schmidt's keen observations of Nature during an excursion in the
Alps. But the Adriatic, so near, enticed him into new paths, and
offered an inexhaustible field for work in the sponges. Aside from his
contributions to the theory of the _Bathybius_ and to the systematics
of the _Gephyrea_, the sea sponges constituted the object of his
studies during the whole period of his residence in Grätz, and were
the occasion of yearly journeys to the Adriatic coasts. The results
reached by Schmidt in this field placed him in the foremost rank of
contemporary investigators, while his occupation with the sponges
marked the completion of a revolution in his view of Nature by
converting him to Darwinism. After his work the characteristic fluid
form of the sponges became a classic subject in the study of the
transmutation theory.

"At the time of the appearance of Schmidt's first work on the sponges
of the Adriatic (in 1862), just enough of their anatomy and physiology
had been made known through individual labors, especially those of
Lieberkühn, to prove their animal nature; and then, also, the sponges
first found a place in the fifth edition of Schmidt's Handbook of
Comparative Anatomy. But any one who undertook either in the Adriatic
or the Mediterranean to make his way through the immense wealth of the
forms would have found himself without help of any kind. It was
therefore Schmidt's purpose to lay the basis, through exact
description and definition of the forms, for continued investigation
through which the study might be further advanced. He carried out this
purpose, recognizing in the skeleton parts what survived amid the
changes, clearly defining the species and genera, nineteen of which
were new, and brilliantly demonstrating his talent in systematization.
While in the first supplement, in 1864, which brought up the histology
of the sponges, he still acknowledged himself an adherent of the old
school, he expressed the hope in the second supplement that science
might some time come upon the track of the genealogical relations of
species; and, in the memorable rector's address of November 15, 1865,
he openly signalized his passage to the new theory, and proclaimed it,
with all the youthful enthusiasm and carelessness as to consequences
characteristic of his nature, as the gospel of the research of the
future.

"The idea of utilizing the great reproductiveness of the sponges for
artificial cultivation was suggested to Schmidt during his studies of
the Dalmatian fauna, and his experiments in this direction made his
name well known in the Austrian coast land and far beyond. After the
publication of an article on the subject in the _Wiener Zeitung_ he
was requested, by the Imperial-Royal Ministry of Trade and National
Economy, to make a special presentation of his views respecting the
possibility and methods of cultivating sponges artificially in
Dalmatia. He first asked for means for experimenting, as furnishing
the prime and most essential method of determining where and how a
sponge culture could be instituted with the best prospect of success.
The request was not granted, but Schmidt was requested to furnish data
respecting the provisions and measures within reach which might be
employed with advantage till further information could be obtained
concerning the adaptability of sponges to propagation from such local
experiments as might be carried on through the industrial and
commercial chambers of Dalmatia. The Notes on Sponges in the Adriatic
Sea and an article of similar import in the _Triester Zeitung_ of
March 12, 1862, were the answer to this request, and they were
followed by Schmidt's having placed at his disposal, by the exchanges
of Trieste, in the next season, money and the control of the war
steamer Hentzis for use in scientific and practical investigations on
the Dalmatian coast. With the assistance of his brother, Eugen, he
carried his experiments to a successful issue at Sebenico, Zlarin
Valle Socolizza on Lesina, Curzola, Lagosta, Meleda, and Ragusa, but
especially in the more favored stations of Zlarin and Lesina, and
demonstrated the possibility of artificial propagation. In order to
test the practical value of the experiments, propagating stations were
established on the island of Lesina and visited by Schmidt every
spring. The results of the experiments were presented in a report to
the Imperial-Royal Ministry of Commerce and National Economy, in which
the possibility of artificial propagation was emphatically affirmed."

Unfortunately, the Dalmatines have not been quick enough to take
advantage of the opportunity thus offered to them to establish a new
industry on their not very busy coast. Bucchich continued Schmidt's
experiments till 1872, but no capitalists have been found to establish
the cultivation of sponges on an extensive and permanent scale.

Another enterprise, however--the Zoölogical Station at Trieste, to
which Schmidt for a time devoted all his energy--has had a more
fortunate realization. The plan of it was developed by Carl Vogt, but
it would never have been erected if Schmidt's practical sense had not
adapted the plan to the actual needs of the case and the financial
conditions imposed by the state, and if he had not given the weight of
his personality to the accomplishment of it.

The erection of a German Empire at the conclusion of the
Franco-Prussian War was an occasion of proud and exultant joy to
Schmidt; and when, in the spring of 1872, he was elected, at the
instance of his friend Haeckel, a professor in the newly instituted
university at Strasburg, he deemed it a patriotic duty to accept.

With his removal to Strasburg, what both Erich Schmidt and Professor
von Graff call the third period of Schmidt's scientific career began.
It was a period of undisturbed ease in his home life, and was devoted
chiefly to the continuation of the studies of the sponges, with a few
special researches, the results of which appeared in books, on the
theory of descent, fossil animals, on Hartman's theories, and on
social democracy. His systematic and anatomical labors on the
sponges--the provisional conclusions of which, in 1870, constituted
the _Grundzüge einer Spongienfauna des Atlantischen Gebietes_
(Outlines of a Sponge Fauna of the Atlantic Region)--were carried on,
Professor von Graff says, from the point of view of the development
theory. Besides several smaller contributions to the building up of
the theory of descent, the most important of all his works of this
time is his book on the Theory of Descent and Darwinism (Appletons'
International Scientific Series)--"one of the best presentations of
all the questions pertaining to that subject, and distinguished from
other similar works both by the philosophical spirit with which the
whole discussion is carried on, and by the even consideration it gives
to all the various fundamental points of the principle of descent. The
prominent features of Schmidt's presentation appear most especially in
the final chapter, the subject of which is the Application of the
Theory of Descent to Man, which he had also previously discussed in a
public address. Shortly after this he reduced to absurdity, in a very
forcible attack on Hartman's Philosophy of the Unconscious, the idea
of the Social Democrats that they could use Darwinism to the advantage
of their Utopia, and treated the subject of the Mammalia in their
Relation to Primeval Times (Appletons' International Scientific
Series) most vigorously from the point of view of the development
theory." He also found time for special researches on the Structure
and Development of Loxosema, the Eyes of Arthropods, and, still
keeping up his studies of the sponges, closed his more than twenty
years' labors on this group with his Sponges of the Gulf of Mexico,
and his last scientific work--Derivation of New Species through the
Decay and Atrophy of Older Characteristics. The preface to the former
work, Professor von Graff says, shows plainly how Schmidt, in contrast
to so many fellow-laborers in the field of the theory of descent, was
always circumspect in a high degree, and never suffered himself to be
carried so far in his zeal as to leave the ground of facts. Although
a champion of monophyletic derivation, he did not overlook the facts
that might be brought to bear in favor of a polyphiletic origin.

During the later years of his life Schmidt visited Heligoland, and
enjoyed the sea air, which seemed to have become necessary to him,
during two winters at Dohrn's Institute at Naples, in southern France,
and at Grado, and attended the meetings of naturalists at Leipsic,
Wiesbaden, Salzburg, Baden-Baden, Munich, Cassel, and Freiburg, where
he was a welcome guest and a prominent speaker. In September,
1885, as president of the Zoölogical Section he entertained his
fellow-specialists at his house. A slight stroke of apoplexy, which he
suffered in the summer of 1882, passed away without seeming to leave
any trace. He spent the Easter season of 1885 with his son's family in
Vienna and with Graff in Grätz. He intended to speak on Easter of 1886
in Weimar and to visit Jena, "whither he expected to return in his
sixty-fifth year so as to attach a good end to a good beginning." But
on the morning of January 9, 1886, after he had spent the previous
evening in pleasant social intercourse, there came another stroke. He
never recovered consciousness, but died on January 16th.

Professor von Graff describes Schmidt's method of teaching as one
encouraging the students to pursue their own ways of thinking. He did
not expect formal theses from them, but, having indicated the theme,
left them to work it out according to their own logical processes, and
as often let them choose their own subjects. Having found a pupil's
bent, he sought to turn him into a corresponding course, "and never
tried to make a poor naturalist out of one who might become a good
doctor or teacher." In his lectures he was earnest and enthusiastic,
not as good a speaker as writer, and sometimes betraying his trouble
to find the right word; "but he knew how to win the love of his pupils
for his subject, and, while trying to make the comprehension of the
matter not too difficult, to keep interest alive by occasional glances
at the theoretical significance of the facts. It was very far from his
purpose to make pastime for his hearers, and, when he was polemical,
every one had to be made sensible of the purely technical bearing."

Professor Schmidt's literary work covered a field of extraordinary
breadth. Besides numerous works and text-books in systematic and
anatomical zoölogy and life histories, he published popular lectures
and essays in many different periodicals, recensions, reviews of
books, translations, and even political articles. It would be
impossible to give a complete bibliography of his works, because he
left no notes respecting them. A list of his publications in zoölogy,
by Professor von Graff, includes ninety-nine titles.




Correspondence.


SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND THE BIBLE.

  _Editor Popular Science Monthly_:

SIR: I have read with great interest an article in the July number of
your Monthly entitled Scientific Method and its Application to the
Bible. So far as I am able to understand the writer's views, I must
certainly decline to accept some of his conclusions. The vital
teaching of his paper appears to me to be this: it is proper to apply
scientific methods to the study of the Bible so far as to inquire into
its structure, the date of its composition, its composite authorship
and the sources from which it was compiled, and the names of its
authors; but certain truths are distinctly taught in it of a
supernatural character which must be accepted because they are a
revelation of God's will, and not because they are found to be true by
intellectual apprehension and logical reasoning. Indeed, to think of
understanding them by intellectual processes is "unscientific beyond
hope of pardon."

It is conceded that "the stifling of thought and of investigation into
what might lead men away from the truth and the faith once delivered
to the saints" was instrumental in causing the barrenness in
scientific work for twelve hundred years of the middle ages, between
Hipparchus and Copernicus, and that "the same causes are more or less
at work at all times to hinder the growth of science and the extension
of scientific method." He still, however, insists that there is
limitation to human inquiry and ecclesiastical bounds beyond which
thought must not go. There are still revelations of truths which the
intellect can not perceive, and which can only be understood by "an
exercise of faith." It is no longer the Mosaic line which scientists
are forbidden to cross, but the "spiritual verities" must not be
questioned. There are some revelations which, in the language of
Huxley, "they are to hold for the certainest of truths, to be doubted
only at the peril of their salvation."

Was it not Martin Luther who called Copernicus a "fool" for trying "to
reverse the entire science of astronomy" in the face of revealed
truths? "To accept the truth as revealed by God and to acquiesce in it
is the part of a good mind," said Melanchthon in condemning
Copernicus. "Who will venture to place the authority of Copernicus
above that of the Holy Spirit?" said Calvin. Verily, his unpardonable
sin was "investigating the truths which are distinctly taught in the
Bible," which required an "exercise of faith" and were not to be
"apprehended intellectually."

The question seems a reasonable one to ask, To what authority shall we
look for knowledge and interpretation of these spiritual truths which
are not accessible by scientific study? How shall we know that they
are truths at all? I am aware that here the testimony of Christian
conscientiousness is sometimes held to be the court of last resort,
which I interpret to mean that if one intuitively reaches the
conclusion that something is true it is true, the most positive
evidence to the contrary notwithstanding. Certainly, no other fact is
better established in all human history than the truth of witchcraft,
if we admit the potency of this authority. If we reject this, must we
not then fall back upon ecclesiastical infallibility as the final
interpreter of truth? And this the essayist, in his paper, declines to
argue.

Now, can there be any such thing as scientific investigation within
such prescribed limitations? Or scientific study of the Bible itself
which excludes from its province the so-called spiritual revelations
which it contains? One might naturally think that the primary purpose
of all the critical study of the books, authors, and structure of the
Bible was to learn just what these distinct truths it teaches are. But
what bearing can this study have upon the question, being but an
intellectual process with which the essential truths are disconnected,
which only come by revelation?

Higher criticism can not hold permanently such an untenable position.
It must either go backward to an infallible book, or an infallible
interpretation of it by authority, or it must go forward to the
consideration of the Bible as a collection of books of ancient
literature, to be examined without restrictions. The truths which it
contains are to be ascertained by "apprehending intellectually" and
"reasoning logically," in the same manner as with other books written
by religious leaders in ancient times. Any halting between these two
positions is only for temporary rest. No permanent foothold can ever
be gained on such a foundation of quicksand. An impassable dead line
in biblical study is indicative of the theological and not the
scientific method.

                                                 LEWIS DAYTON BURDICK.

  MCDONOUGH, N. Y.


A CORRECTION.

  _Editor Popular Science Monthly_:

SIR: A correspondent, Mr. C. Wood Davis, of Peotone, Kansas, appears
to think it his duty to prove that we can not produce wheat enough in
this country to meet our own future demands, and apparently regards it
as a personal matter when any one contests this position. He also
thinks he has found a small error in long division in the last article
which you printed from me on this question which I can not find, but
which if found and corrected would have no influence on the general
argument.

He also rebukes me in a most earnest manner for the alleged misuse of
the chemical term "phosphate of potash," which crept into my article
in connection with the right use of the term "phosphate of lime," when
I referred to the mineral phosphates of Kentucky, Tennessee, and
Florida. Technically he is apparently right. There is no permanent
form or no natural mineral form of phosphate of potash which can be
removed from place to place. Yet my article was revised by an
experienced geologist, thoroughly familiar with the chemistry of the
soil, before I sent it to you, and he failed to correct this technical
error. My own knowledge of chemistry is very limited.

It might be inferred, as my irascible correspondent points out, from
the manner in which I have called attention to the deposits of mineral
phosphates in Kentucky and Tennessee, that I thought these deposits
would yield phosphates of lime and phosphates of potash each in a
separate movable form, which could not be a fact. Yet my critic will
doubtless admit that the soils of many parts of this country are
stocked with potash sufficient for a very long period.

Many years ago, when I began the study of the cotton plant and its
growth, under the leadership of the late Prof. William B. Rogers, I
made reference to the existence of the vast supplies of phosphate of
lime and potash, which are necessary to the growth of the cotton
plant, in the Southern soils. I derived my conception of their origin
in the lowlands and plateaus in marine formations from Professor
Rogers, and also from the works of Professor Shaler. One may also
impute the large amount of potash that is found in the valleys and
mountain lands to the disintegration of the gneiss and other rocks of
the Appalachian chain, which have never been washed out by glacial
action or by glacial streams. If any one has been misled by this
slight misuse of chemical terms it may be well to state that phosphate
of potash does not exist, and I am told that it can not exist, in a
separate removable form.

We have not as yet discovered any large deposit or mine like that of
Stassfurt, in Prussia, yielding potash in a commercial form in which
it can be widely distributed. We import annually thousands of tons of
potash from Stassfurt. This deposit was discovered, as I am informed,
by accident, and it may be hoped that a similar accident may occur in
this country. These mines were originally opened for the production of
salt. In boring for salt the product of a stratum above or below the
salt, I know not which, was brought up, which was thrown aside as
worthless until an inquisitive visiting chemist examined it and thus
discovered this great source of potash. We possess enormous beds of
salt, of soda, and of alkalies, scattered throughout the area of this
country, in connection with which it may be hoped that we may
hereafter discover a deposit of mineral potash, or of the mineral from
which potash may be derived cheaply and in large quantities.

These two exceptions which have been taken to my article have no real
connection with the substance of the argument, which stands
independently either of the undiscoverable error in long division or
of the technical fault in the use of the term "phosphate of potash."
Yours very truly,

                                                      EDWARD ATKINSON.

  BOSTON, _June 7, 1899_.




Editor's Table.


_AN OLD-FASHIONED MORAL._

Voltaire's Candide is not a book that can be recommended for general
reading; yet it contains perhaps as good a moral as could easily be
found in a wide range of books aiming more distinctly at edification.
The hero, after many vicissitudes and copious experience of the
deceitfulness of riches and the miseries of an ill-regulated life,
made the blessed discovery that peace and health and independence were
to be obtained by the industrious cultivation of a small piece of
ground. He had a friend called Martin who associated himself with him
in his agricultural labors, but who had rather a fine talent for
discussing abstract questions. Candide would listen to him for a
while, but never allowed him to get very far without breaking in with
the observation, "Mais surtout il faut cultiver notre jardin" ("But
above everything else we must cultivate our garden"). Here was safety,
here was balm for painful recollections, here was about the best that
the world had it in its power to give; and Candide, chastised by
misfortune, wanted to stick to that.

This is an age of copious and unending discussion of social and
political problems. Discussion is well in its way; but perhaps the
problems would not be so acute if there was less discussion and more
cultivating of gardens. It may indeed be said, with no small degree of
plausibility, that the greed to be rich, the unwillingness, so to
speak, to cultivate a garden which only promises a moderate reward, is
at the bottom of a large part of our troubles. Wisdom cries aloud and
tells the world that happiness is not to be found in riches; but the
cry is little heeded. The whole lesson of higher education is that
happiness springs from within and not from without; but thousands take
what they can of the higher education while declining the lesson.
Science unlocks a world of beauty and wonder, and offers to the mind a
constant succession of interesting subjects of contemplation; but
thousands again ask nothing of science except to show them the way to
wealth. Precisely similar in a multitude of cases is the demand made
of art and literature. It is well-nigh a century since Wordsworth
lamented the decay of "plain living and high thinking." Have the
succeeding years brought any improvement in this respect? It is much
to be feared they have not. Wealth is, if possible, more than ever the
ideal of society, and plain living is terribly at a discount.

We believe, however, that in the deliberate choice of plain living by
an influential portion of society there lies a greater potency of
social reform than in all the schemes of socialistic reconstruction.
The most hurtful thing in the world to-day is the false glamour of
wealth. It is against this evil influence that we want an
insurrection, not against capital as such. Weaken the fascination of
wealth, and, in the same degree that you do so, you increase the moral
responsibility of those who are its possessors. The luxury of the
present age has run to a dangerous extreme. Advice in such a matter
may seem idle, but the discovery that Candide made is one that the
world at large must make some day. True happiness is the natural
accompaniment of honest industry and moderate living. Such conditions
make high thinking possible, and give a savor to all enjoyments.
There have been times when men, to save their souls, would go forth
into the wilderness or the desert. Such sacrifices are not needed in
the present day; there is a very respectable measure of salvation to
be won in cultivating a garden.


_THE TROUBLES OF ORTHODOXY._

The thought of the age has now reached a point of development at which
it has become almost impossible for any man of trained intellect to
say that he receives on authority pure and simple any statement which
admits or should admit of direct verification--for example, any
statement dealing with matters of a historical or scientific
character. This, if we mistake not, is the true secret of the troubles
over doctrinal questions which have lately broken out in more than one
division of the Christian Church. It is not so much that there has
been a revolt against doctrines as such, as that a need is felt by
thinking and cultivated men to seek for higher grounds of belief than
those hitherto deemed sufficient. This has led to a certain
generalization of belief, if we may so call it, which to less
cultivated minds looks almost like an abandonment of the most
essential doctrines of the Christian faith. Such a view of the matter,
however, we hold to be entirely erroneous. The men we are thinking
of--and Dr. Briggs and Bishop Potter may be taken as conspicuous
examples--have the interests of religion and of their fellow-men at
heart. They do not wish to force upon others a mode of looking at
religious questions for which they are not prepared; but, for their
own part, they find it necessary to restate the articles of their
religious faith in terms which do not absolutely conflict with the
principles of reason. This rectification of terms is imposed in part
by the conditions of thought in the modern world, but to an equal
extent at least by what may be called an inward expansion of the
doctrines themselves. Who that holds any truth, scientific or other,
does not feel impelled to seek for it continually a wider
interpretation and application? Not otherwise is it, we hold, with
religious doctrines; they have their own law of growth and
development, and he who would arrest the process condemns them to
atrophy and decay.

It is charged against both the scholars we have mentioned that they
speak of the Bible as literature, and say that in determining its
meaning we must keep in view the same class of considerations which
would guide us in dealing with other literary monuments. There is
nothing in this which need alarm any thoughtful person. It would be
doing less than justice to the Bible to deny that many parts of it are
literature of a very high order; and it would be doing less than
justice to our own intellects to deny that the conception of the Bible
as literature is a great help to its correct interpretation. Religion,
in the view of such men as we have mentioned, does not depend upon the
meaning given to a text or the acceptance or rejection of any specific
statement of fact. There is nothing specially "religious" in believing
that the Epistle to the Hebrews was written by St. Paul, or that the
adventures of Jonah were precisely as described in the book that bears
his name. Grant that the organ of religious apprehension is faith, yet
each age must settle for itself the question as to what is the proper
scope of faith and what of reason. In the present day reason can deal
with many things which at one time were thought to be entirely within
the domain of faith, and it would be rash to say that the frontier has
even yet received its final rectification. If we rightly understand
the position of Dr. Briggs and Bishop Potter, they hold that religion
is essentially an attitude of mind and heart, a seeing of the
invisible, an instinctive recognition of a supreme moral authority, a
sense that every human being is called to nothing less than holiness
of life. They reverence the Scriptures because in them, as in no other
body of writings in the world, the realities of religion are both
expressed and implied. They do not demand of the Bible perfect
agreement with either scientific or historic truth; they are content
if they find in it the spiritual basis of human life, a scheme of
thought that links the individual human being with an infinite origin
and an infinite destiny. From their standpoint the value of the Bible
for the highest moral purposes would in no way be increased if every
word in it which touches on scientific or historical questions had the
seal of all the academies in the Old World and the New.

It is not a difficult thing, nor does it require much wisdom, to harry
a man whose independent thinking and moral earnestness have forced him
to take a different attitude toward some great question from that
which is adopted by the multitude. It is easy to present his views in
an invidious light, but a more useful task would be to show that all
that is essential and precious in religious belief can exist as well
in a philosophical as in a popular form. With such a thesis it may not
be quite so easy to "score," but it is a pity when the standards of
the reporters' room invade the desk of the literary or theological
editor. It is upon such men as we have mentioned, men of competent
scholarship and earnest spirit, that the task is laid of purifying and
liberating the religious consciousness of the age; and we do not
hesitate to say that when, from the vantage height of modern
knowledge, they affirm with deep conviction the indestructibleness of
the religious sentiment and the everlasting reality of its object,
they render a service which, from a religious point of view, can not
be overestimated.




Scientific Literature.


SPECIAL BOOKS.

In a stout volume[G] of nearly a thousand pages Mr. _Jackson_, the
leader of the Jackson-Harmsworth Polar Expedition of 1894-'97, puts
into permanent form the record of three years' observations made in
Franz-Josef Land, a region beyond the eightieth parallel of latitude,
which was accidentally made known to the world twenty years before by
the drift of the Tegethoff, the ill-fated vessel of the Austrian
expedition of Payer and Weyprecht. As such it is a substantial
contribution to arctic literature, and from it much important detail
will be obtained by those seeking further adventure in the quest for
the pole, and a mass of material, geographic and otherwise, pertaining
to the region which forms the subject of the work before us. The
meteorological data, covering as they do a longer continuous period of
observation in the extreme North than has heretofore been possible,
and fittingly supplementing those recorded by Nansen for an almost
equal period, will be specially prized by the scientist, even if the
facts of the air are not considered to be the main object of arctic
research. It is interesting to note, from the observations on
temperature, that the lowest record was only -46° F., the extreme
rigor, consequently, being only that of Dakota or Manitoba, and
marking nearly fifty degrees above what has been observed a thousand
miles farther to the south at Verkhoyansk, in Siberia. Nothing
approaching the extreme cold (-72°) noted by Kane and by the Nares
British Expedition of 1875-'76 has thus been recorded by Nansen,
Peary, or Jackson.

     [Footnote G: A Thousand Days in the Arctic. By Frederick G.
     Jackson, Knight, First Class, of the Royal Order of St. Olaf,
     etc. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1899.]

Mr. Jackson's claims to discovery lie mainly in the field of
geography; for, while the observations on zoölogy, botany, and geology
are by no means meager or lacking in originality, the results obtained
have been largely anticipated by other investigators--notably Payer,
Leigh Smith, and Nansen. In the domain of geography, however, there is
a distinct contribution, and the author has missed no opportunity to
add to the catalogue of geographical names by "rounding up," as it
were, the numerous points which appeared new to him or were thought
worthy of designation. This diligence in applying names, at times to
points or places which are wholly insignificant and which could be
followed with equal advantage or disadvantage on most of the known
coast lines of either Europe or North America, can hardly be said to
detract from the value of the discoveries actually made, although
their publication, from advance letters received by Mr. Harmsworth's
representative in London, has caused hostile comment and bitter
controversy, even on the part of British geographers and scientists.
Much of Mr. Jackson's work, it was contended, was directed to
demolishing the work of Lieutenant Payer in the same region, and
toward substituting names for those given, whether with a correct
placing or not, by the Austrian commander--in itself a legitimate
undertaking, but heralded out, it was claimed, to mask Mr. Jackson's
own failure to accomplish the real task of his expedition--the finding
of the north pole. Mr. Jackson has certainly very largely remodeled
Payer's map of the archipelago, but the new map in no way discredits
the attainments of his predecessor, even though showing up many and
even glaring inaccuracies in the cartographical details published by
him, for allowance must be made for the limitations under which the
Austrian commander made his work. The vital points which have to be
eliminated from the geography of Payer are: That Franz-Josef Land is a
congeries of no very large islands, without continental extent
northward, and that much that has been represented to be land is, in
fact, water or ice, the appearance of land in the frozen North being
frequently suggested by the vast gray and ill-defined ice masses which
loom up in fog and mist, both as flat sheets and mountain buttresses.

It was the failure to find a northward continental extension to
Franz-Josef Land, such as had been thought to possibly exist by Payer,
which led Jackson to abandon all effort to advance upon the pole--a
condition which appears, at this time, the more surprising seeing that
two expeditions, those of Walter Wellmann and the Duke of Abruzzi,
with all of Mr. Jackson's facts before them, have elected this same
route as the one most calculated to bring about a successful issue,
and certainly much can be said in favor of it. While the Franz-Josef
Land route may not commend itself as the one best to be followed--and
surely the open highway which from time to time appears north of
Spitzbergen offers marked advantages for one without a land
following--it still has its advantages in the point of high northern
departure, and arctic authorities will fail to be impressed by the
negative conditions which were obtained from it by the Harmsworth
Expedition. Manifestly, Mr. Jackson had prepared himself for one form
of journey only--that of following the land, a singularly blind
limitation, considered in the light of the little that was positively
known of such land extension as the expedition had counted upon, and
one that is disagreeably emphasized by the lavish expenditure of money
that had been put to the expedition, and the personal confidence that
had in some quarters been expressed in its success. Without wishing in
any way to disparage or minimize the importance of Mr. Jackson's work,
or to underestimate the hardships of any form of arctic exploration,
one can not but feel surprised and in a measure disappointed that an
expedition designed primarily for an advance upon the pole, which
passed the better part of three years beyond the eightieth parallel of
latitude, and whose members during this time did not know a single day
of sickness--an almost unprecedented performance in arctic
methods--should have found itself in a condition unable even to make
an effort upon the "open." The recollection of Parry's performance in
the frozen sea north of Spitzbergen in 1827, of Markham's advance in
1876, and of Peary's "treck" across the north of Greenland in 1892,
emphasizes only more deeply this feeling of disappointment.

Mr. Jackson has made a very careful study of Franz-Josef Land, and has
brought that region into a condition of knowledge similar to that
which the different Peary expeditions have brought to the north of
Greenland. His narrative is simple and direct, virtually a transcript
of notebook and diary, without embellishment of any kind, and with a
statement of facts and conditions such as they appeared almost at the
instant of time of their occurrence. While indisputably impressing a
truthfulness and reality, it can not be said that this method adds to
the readableness of the book, which is overburdened with repetitions,
frequently in identical words and sentences, to a useless and, one is
tempted to say, most distressing extent. It is to be regretted that an
explorer of the marked energy, routine, and persistence which are Mr.
Jackson's qualities should have faltered in what by some travelers has
been considered the most arduous part of their task--the proper
preparation of a report--for surely it can not be conceived that a
good purpose was subserved, either in a popular or scientific aspect,
in the publication of wholly unimportant matter, over and over
repeated, merely because it formed part of an official diary. The work
is abundantly illustrated throughout with half-tone reproductions from
photographs, taken by Jackson and his companions, that give a vivid
reality to the journey which no amount of word-painting, even when so
skillfully handled as by the present author, could prove a substitute
for. Scientists will be gratified to know that supplemental reports,
prepared by specialists in different departments, may be expected
before long to fill out the full scientific aspects of the
exploration.

On one point in connection with Mr. Jackson's discoveries the
geographer, not less than the lay public, has the right to break
straws with the author--that is, the method of naming the new points
of land, water, and ice. Zoölogists and botanists have long been
guilty of an absurd levity in the discharge of their obligations as
namers of new species, and have burdened the vocabulary of animal and
vegetable names with thousands of _personalia_ which in no way called
for perpetuation, and many of which were suggested only by way of
ridicule or jest. So long, however, as these were dressed in Latin or
Greek form and remained merely the possession of the scientific world
there was little to complain of, and even the objections of the
extreme sentimentalists might have been met by an appeal to the
difficulty of obtaining or coining judicious or otherwise appropriate
names. The case is different with the naming of places on the earth's
surface, which at this day can be done with direct reference to
euphony, to a certain appropriateness of dedication or appeal, and the
intelligence of the student. A map of the world is intended for
everybody, and not for a class of specialists, and its symbols are
devised for readers of all classes. Maps of America have particularly
suffered from irrelevant and commonplace designations, and only during
recent years has the money value of names suggested radical changes,
as in the case of many of the seaside resorts of the middle Atlantic
coast. But, with all our indifferences and extravagances of even a
half century ago--the period of Hog Hollows and Yuba Dams--a no cruder
infraction of the logic of nomenclature can be found than in the
coining of such names as "Cape Mary Harmsworth," "Cape Cecil
Harmsworth," "Alfred Harmsworth Island," "Harold Harmsworth Straits,"
"Cape William Bruce," "Bruce Island," "Mabel [Bruce] Islands," "Mabel
Bruce Fjord," "Albert Armitage Island," "Cape Alice Armitage," "Ceceil
Rhodes Straits," "H. M. S. Worcester Glacier," etc. These have not
even the advantage of an old-time arctic "ring" about them. Courting
popularity by the bestowal of all manner of personal names,
irrespective of direct relation to the expedition or to geographical
exploration, is hardly commendable, and is only less objectionable
than the plan suggested a few years ago by an American would-be arctic
explorer to "sell" the names of places to be discovered to the highest
bidder--i. e., according to a graded schedule of contributions to the
expedition funds.


GENERAL NOTICES.

_On the South African Frontier_[H] is a narrative of the experiences
and observations of the author, Mr. _William Harvey Brown_, partly as
naturalist of the United States Government Eclipse-observing
Expedition of 1889 to the west coast of Africa, and partly as a
resident in various occupations for seven years in Rhodesia. The
principal object in composing it was to give American readers a
clearer idea of English operations in conquest and colonization on the
South African frontier than it is possible to glean from current
fragmentary accounts. The author served his apprenticeship at natural
history collecting under Prof. L. L. Dyche, of the University of
Kansas, and Mr. W. T. Hornady, of the New York Zoölogical Gardens, and
was recommended by Mr. Hornady to the Government for the Eclipse
Expedition. He sailed first to Freetown, then to St. Paul de Loanda,
where he spent a few weeks collecting, establishing his headquarters
at Bishop Taylor's American Methodist Self-supporting Mission. Thence,
after a short attack of African fever, he proceeded to Cape Town,
where he was attacked by the other sort of African fever--"an
irresistible longing to penetrate the Dark Continent for purposes of
exploration and of observing both man and Nature." He made the journey
overland to Mafeting and to the Mashona country, in the region of
which he spent seven years as "game-hunter, gold-seeker, landowner,
citizen, and soldier," observing and participating in the settlement
and early development of the new state of Rhodesia. The larger part of
the book is devoted to his adventures and observations, "travel,
collecting, hunting, prospecting, farming, scouting, fighting," and
seeing pioneer life. Two chapters are devoted to ethnology. The race
problems which arise during the stage of transition from barbarism,
the agricultural and mineral resources of Rhodesia, and its prospects
and possibilities, are discussed.

     [Footnote H: On the South African Frontier. The Adventures and
     Observations of an American in Mashonaland and Matabeleland. New
     York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 430, with map. Price, $3.]

A very handsome book, in what to many are the most graceful and
interesting forms of vegetable life, is Mrs. _Parsons's How to Know
the Ferns_.[I] The name of the author is new, but the author herself
is a familiar friend to all lovers of American field and wild-wood
life, for she is none other than Mrs. William Starr Dana, who had
already given us How to Know the Wild Flowers and According to Season.
In this book she does as she did with regard to the wild
flowers--takes her readers to the haunts of the ferns and into their
company, introduces us to them, and before she is done makes us well
acquainted with them. "It seems strange," she says, "that the
abundance of ferns everywhere has not aroused more curiosity as to
their names, haunts, and habits." Possibly it is because they are so
common that we are not at pains to seek greater intimacy with them.
Then, they depend on the beauty of graceful proportion, which is less
obvious to careless eyes than that of color. First, Mrs. Parsons
discourses of Ferns as a Hobby, and the pleasure we may derive from
them; then she tells when and where to find them, defines the terms
used in speaking of them, explains their fertilization, development,
and fructification, gives a list of notable fern families and
descriptions of the American ferns classified into eight groups
according to the arrangement of their spores, and completes the work
with indexes of Latin and of English names and of technical terms.

     [Footnote I: How to Know the Ferns. A Guide to the Names, Haunts,
     and Habits of our Common Ferns. By Prances Theodora Parsons. New
     York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 215. Price, $1.50.]

_The Microscopy of Drinking Water_[J] is intended by Mr. _Whipple_
primarily to serve as a guide to the water analyst and the water-works
engineer by describing the methods of microscopic examination,
assisting in the identification of the common microscopic organisms
found in drinking water, and interpreting the results in the light of
environmental studies. A second purpose is to stimulate a greater
interest in the study of microscopic aquatic life and general
limnology (the lessons of lakes and ponds) from the practical and
economic point of view. The work is elementary in character.
Principles are stated and illustrated, but the last ten years'
accumulations of data are not otherwise attacked. The illustrations
have been largely drawn from Massachusetts cases, from which there may
be differences elsewhere, but not very great as to microscopic
organisms. The latter half of the book is devoted to descriptions of a
limited number of organisms, chosen for the most part from those
commonest to the water supplies of New England, and those that have
best illustrated the more important groups of microscopic animals and
plants. Most of the illustrations have been drawn from living
specimens or photomicrographs of such, but some are reproduced from
other sources.

     [Footnote J: The Microscopy of Drinking Water. By George Chandler
     Whipple. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Pp. 300, with nineteen
     plates.]

It is evidence of appreciation of Dr. _Wetterstrand's Hypnotism and
its Application to Medicine_[K] that, written in Swedish, it has been
translated into German and Russian, and now into English. The German
work, from which the present translation is made, was enlarged from
the original, and embodied the results of additional experience. The
author disavows the intention of writing a manual or text-book, and
modestly assumes only to have given "unpretentious notes by a
physician who, under the pressure of a fatiguing and engrossing
practice, has not been able to develop his rich material into a more
complete form." The book is characterized by the translator as more
practical than theoretical, and as offering the results of
conscientious and able observation. Hypnosis is defined by Dr.
Wetterstrand as embracing a number of various conditions of the
nervous system, which can be produced in different ways. "We recognize
phases of the greatest variety, from a slight heaviness in the limbs,
the most superficial somnolence enabling the hypnotized subject to
hear and perceive the least noise, to the deepest sleep, from which
the greatest disturbance can not awake him, and wherein every
sensation disappears and permits the most serious surgical operation
without pain." The author believes that the majority of people can be
brought into any of these conditions, but the methods and degrees of
difficulty of the process are various. "Liébeault distinguishes five
degrees in hypnotic sleep, Bernheim nine; but Wetterstrand thinks they
may all be grouped under three. Suggestive therapeutics is regarded as
by no means a panacea, but it succeeds in cases where other methods
have failed," and, as Bernheim says, "often it produces miracles."
After an outline of the general principles of the subject the author
passes on to describe some diseases and morbid conditions in which he
has employed hypnotism with the greatest results, culling from his
notes, as impartially as possible, both successful attempts and
failures. The cases include insomnia, the list of nervous diseases,
drug diseases, consumption, rheumatic, heart, and other organic
diseases, and functional affections; with the use of suggestive
therapeutics in operations, obstetrics, and on some other occasions.
Dr. Petersen's medical letters on hypno-suggestion, etc., added to Dr.
Wetterstrand's work, are intended to give a succinct idea of the
present status of practical psychic therapeutics, as based on the
observation of clinical facts. They relate to suggestive treatment in
reform work, post-hypnotic responsibility, and music in hospitals.

     [Footnote K: Hypnotism and its Application to Medicine. By Otto
     Georg Wetterstrand, M. D. Authorized translation (from the German
     edition), by Henrik G. Petersen, M. D. Together with Medical
     Letters on Hypno-Suggestion, etc. By Henrik G. Petersen, M. D.
     New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 166.]

The original object of Mr. _Henry Rutgers Marshall's_ essay on
_Instinct and Reason_[L] was to present a conception of religion. In
attempting to make his argument convincing he found it necessary to
deal with questions which did not at first appear to relate to this
subject, whereby the study of religion, though still the most
important and interesting matter considered, is made to appear
subsidiary to the treatment of instinct and reason. Believing that
activities so universal in man as those which express his religious
life must be significant in relation to his biological development,
the author has attempted to outline a theory that will account for
their existence and explain their biological import. In order to
present this clearly he has made a special study of instinct and the
relation of its activities with religious activities in general. This
has naturally led to the study of impulse, and thus to a consideration
of moral standards. The study of reason, too, has been found
appropriate in connection with the consideration of the nature of
religion. The genesis of religious customs and beliefs is touched upon
only so far as seems necessary for the elucidation of other parts of
the treatise. Concerning the relation of religion and morals, the
author finds that religion teaches us to listen to the past, and gives
enthusiasm to do the work commended by the "voice" of that past; it
gives us the basis for the perfection of our moral code, but it does
not give us this perfect moral code itself. When reason and the
religious instinct are opposed we should, after reverent and full
consideration, act in accord with reason, but should be cautious in
guiding others that way, for the chances are decidedly that we are
wrong, and "the rule of action which will best satisfy conscience,
which will produce the closest correspondence between our action as
viewed in retrospect and our most permanently efficient impulse
series, is one which is based upon the religious instinct, and which
involves the presence in mind of the sense of duty."

     [Footnote L: Instinct and Reason. An Essay concerning the
     Relation of Instinct to Reason, with some Special Study of the
     Nature of Religion. By Henry Rutgers Marshall. New York: The
     Macmillan Company. Pp. 574. Price, $3.50.]

Mr. _Arthur Berry_ has undertaken, in his _Short History of
Astronomy_,[M] to give an outline of the history of the science from
the earliest times in a form intelligible to readers who have no
special knowledge of astronomy or mathematics. Some compression having
been necessary, it has been found possible to omit a considerable
number of details which might receive treatment, and indeed would
often require it in a treatise on the science. The author has
deliberately abstained from giving any connected account of the
astronomy of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, Chinese, and other peoples who
are usually supposed to have had a share in the early development of
star-lore. Accounts of scientific instruments, except in a few simple
and important cases, are omitted. But little is said of scientific
discoveries that have to be described in technical mathematical
language, and of speculative theories that have not been established
or refuted. On the other hand, whatever pertains to the real history
of astronomy has been given with sufficient fullness to make it plain;
the principles which are illustrated by enormous masses of
observations that there is no room to record; short biographical
sketches of leading astronomers other than living ones; a considerable
number of dates, such as those of the births and deaths of
astronomers; and even descriptions of such obsolete theories as appear
to form an integral part of astronomical progress. Among the
illustrations are portraits of a few of the eminent astronomers of the
past.

     [Footnote M: A Short History of Astronomy. By Arthur Berry. New
     York: Charles Scribner's Sons. (The University Series.) Pp. 440.
     Price, $1.50.]

The special articles in the _Bulletin of the Department of Labor_,
Nos. 18 and 19, are Wages in the United States and Europe, 1870 to
1898, in the September number, and Mr. Dunham's paper on The Alaskan
Gold Fields and the Opportunities they offer for Capital and Labor,
and Mutual Relief and Benefit Associations in the Printing Trade, by
W. S. Wandly, in the number for November.

The Rev. Dr. _Adam Miller_ is a retired minister who has devoted his
leisure hours to the study of sunshine, in which he has included all
that properly belongs to the sun. He has read the standard works on
astronomy, and some, but apparently not all, the later results for
comparison, it seems, rather than information, and he has performed
some original and ingenious experiments with the sunlight. His views,
therefore, as expressed in _The Sun an Electric Light_ (Chicago), are
his own. He has come to the conclusion that the material theories of
the origin of the sun's light and heat do not account for the facts,
and are therefore insufficient if not wrong; postulates a theory that
the phenomena are matters of electric action made perceptible to us by
refraction through the atmosphere, and makes an unnecessary and
inconsequent attack on the theory of the conservation of forces. When
Dr. Miller assumes that his views of the insufficiency of present
theories and of the electrical nature of the sun's action are new, he
shows that he is not fully read up in the current literature on the
subject. The insufficiency of present views is confessed, and the
discussions of the subject with the various suppositions which he
criticises are efforts to find better explanations. The causal
identity of electricity, heat, and certain other forces is accepted.
But, given that electrical action is the basis of it all, what then?
Philosophers know of no way of maintaining electric action except
through material processes, and the way they are replenished to keep
it up is as hard to find out as would be the way fuel is supplied to
keep up a solar fire.

A pamphlet entitled _The Story of the Rise of the Oral Method in
America_ (of Instructing the Deaf and Dumb) _as told in the Writings
of the late Hon. Gardner G. Hubbard_, compiled by Mrs. _M. Gardner
Bell_, reveals a seeming indolence in the early instructors of the old
method that is hardly creditable to their energy in investigation.
When deaf-mute instruction was first projected here, a teacher was
sent over to Europe to learn the best methods. Denied access to
schools in London and Edinburgh, where articulation systems were
taught, he went to Paris, found the Abbé de l'Epée's sign language
there and brought it over. This and the finger language held sway in
our schools for many years, while the possibility of teaching
articulation to the deaf was denied. It required long-persistent
effort on the part of a few men who refused to have their deaf
children taught these systems and consequently isolated from their
fellow-men to secure a recognized place for oral schools. The story of
the struggle is told in Mrs. Bell's pamphlet.

The widespread ignorance and superstition with which even to-day the
practicing physician has to contend are hardly conceivable by an
outsider. The conditions under which a doctor knows his patients are
just those calculated to bring out the weak spots in their mental
organization, and the absurd notions which still have a foothold in
many minds are a constant source of wonder to the speculative doctor.
These superstitions are so widespread and so frequently dangerous to
the whole community, as well as the individual himself, that anything
which is calculated to improve matters, however so little, should be
welcomed with open arms. _Dr. Therne_, by _H. Rider Haggard_, is aimed
at the antivaccinators, and by means of a not uninteresting story
points out the serious consequences which a general belief in this
absurd crusade brought to an English city. The author labels his story
as an attempt to forecast the "almost certain issue of the recent
surrender of the English Government leaders to the clamor of the
antivaccinationists."

The annual number of the _Cumulative Index_ for 1898, constituting the
third annual volume, is a book of seven hundred and ninety-two pages,
and includes one hundred periodicals. It indexes--by authors, titles,
and subjects, including reviews and portraits--what is important in
the monthly and part of that in the weekly publications of the year.
Special attention is given to portraits, reviews, and necrology. The
Index is a very useful publication to writers and students of every
sort, recording the articles as they appear month by month in a form
that makes the knowledge of them easily accessible to one who seeks
it. The numbers succeeding the first number of the volume include,
besides their own fresh matter, that which has appeared in two or
three previous numbers, saving the necessity of hunting up scattered
editions. The annual volume contains all for the year. The Index is
edited in the Public Library of Cleveland, Ohio, and is published by
the Holman-Taylor Company in the same city.

Two papers bearing upon instruction of the deaf, published by the
Volta Bureau, Washington, are statistics, by Alexander G. Bell, of the
relative use in the United States of the several methods, and a
collection of _International Reports of Schools for the Deaf_. The
latter paper contains reports from sixteen countries.


PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Armour Institute of Technology. Year-Book, 1898-'99. Pp. 89.

Association of American Anatomists. Report of the Majority of the
Committee on Anatomical Nomenclature. Pp. 10.

Baillairge, Charles. Biographie. By E. La Selve. With Addenda by Léon
Sortie. Pp. 15, and papers.--In French: On Communism. Pp. 45; Report
on Engineering Works In Quebec. Pp. 90; Etymological Utility of Greek
and Latin. Pp. 48; The Club of Twenty-one in 1879, Biography for
Twenty Years. Pp. 12; Life, Evolution, and Materialism. Pp. 37;
Antiquity of the Earth and Man. Pp. 23; Bibliography. Pp. xv.--In
English: Technical Education of the People In Untechnical Language.
Pp. 42; Educational Word Lessons. Pp. 19; How best to Learn or Teach a
Language. Pp. 9; Address. P. 1.

Baker, Major-General, Royal (Bombay) Engineers. Visions of Antichrist
and his Times. St.-Leonards-on-Sea, England. Pp. 28.

Binet, Alfred, Beaunis, H., and Ribot, Th. L'Année Psychologique. (The
Psychological Year.) Fifth year. Paris, France. Libraire C. Reinwald.
Schleicher Frères. Pp. 902. 15 francs.

Bulletins, Reports, Transactions, etc. American Microscopical Society:
Twenty-first Annual Meeting, Syracuse, N. Y., August 31 and September
1, 1899. Transactions. Pp. 370.--Astronomical Observatory of Harvard
University: Vol. XXIII, Part II. Discussion of Observations made with
the Meridian Photometer during the Years 1882-'88. By E. C. Pickering
and O. C. Wendell. Pp. 100.--Johns Hopkins University: Circulars.
July, 1899. Pp. 10. 10 cents.--Michigan Monthly Bulletin of Vital
Statistics. April, 1899. Pp. 20.--Michigan Ornithological Club:
Bulletin. April, 1899. Pp. 12.--Minnesota: Fourth Annual Report of the
Chief Fire Warden. Pp. 148.--New York State Commission in Lunacy:
Rules and Suggestions as to Plumbing Work, Drainage, etc. Pp.
93.--United States Department of Labor. July, 1899. Pp. 124.--United
States Coast and Geodetic Survey: Notice to Mariners. No. 246. Pp.
14.--University of Tennessee: Record. Announcements for 1899, 1900.
Pp. 96.

Clayton, The, Air Compressors. Clayton Air-Compressor Works. New York.
Pp. 70.

Coulter, John M. Plant Relations. A First Book of Botany. New York: D.
Appleton and Company. Pp. 264. $1.10.

Crook, James K. The Mineral Waters of the United States and their
Therapeutic Uses. New York and Philadelphia: Lea Brothers & Co. Pp.
588. $3.50.

Dalton, Captain Davis. How to Swim. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp.
133. $1.

Gerhard, W. P. Sanitary Engineering of Buildings. Vol. I. New York: W.
P. Comstock. Pp. 454. $5.--A Half Century of Sanitation, 1850-'99. Pp.
30.

Gildemeister, E., and Hoffmann, Fr. Die Aetherischen Oele. (The
Etherial Oils.) Prepared in behalf of the firm of Schimmel & Co.
Leipzig and Berlin: Julius Springer. Pp. 919.

Gould, the late Benjamin Apthorp. Cordoba Photographs. Photographic
Observations of Star Clusters. Lynn, Mass.: the Nichols Press. Pp.
533, with 37 plates. Text in Spanish and English.

Iowa Geological Survey. Annual Report. 1898, with accompanying Papers.
Samuel Calvin, State Geologist; H. F. Bain, Assistant State Geologist.
Pp. 572, with maps.

Kellerman, W. A. The Fourth State Catalogue of Ohio Plants. Systematic
Check-list of the Pteridophytes and Spermatophytes. Columbus, Ohio.
Pp. 65. 20 cents.

Leonard, John W. Who's Who in America. A Biographical Dictionary of
Living Men and Women in the United States, 1899, 1900. Chicago: A. N.
Marquis & Co. Pp. 822.

Long Island Hospital. Polhemus Memorial Clinic and Hoagland
Laboratory. Forty-first Annual Announcement, 1899.

Meunier, Stanislas. La Géologie Expérimentale. (Experimental Geology.)
Paris: Félix Alcan. Pp. 311.

Reprints. Adler, Cyrus. The International Catalogue of Scientific
Literature. Second Conference. Pp. 43.--Chamberlin, T. C. A Systematic
Source of Evolution of Provincial Faunas, and the Influence of Great
Epochs of Limestone Formation upon the Constitution of the Atmosphere.
Pp. 24; The Ulterior Basis of Time Divisions and the Classifications
of Geologic History. Pp. 161; Lord Kelvin's Address on the Age of the
Earth as an Abode fitted for Life. Pp. 20.--Croke, W. J. Architecture,
Painting, and Printing at Subiaco. Pp. 21.--Daly, Reginald A. Three
Days in the Caucasus. Pp. 15.--Harkness, H. W. Californian Hypogæous
Fungi. Pp. 56, with plates.--Hobbs, W. H. The Diamond Fields of the
Great Lakes. Pp. 16.--Lucas, Frederick A. The Fossil Bison of North
America. Pp. 12, with plates.--Manson, Marsden. Observations on the
Denudation of Vegetation. Pp. 18, with plates.--Mason, Otis T. The
Latimer Collection of Antiquities from Puerto Rico, and the Guerde
Collection of Antiquities from Pointe à Pitre, Guadeloupe. Pp.
837.--Pammel, Louis H. Anatomical Characters of Seeds of Leguminosæ.
Pp. 262, with tables and plates.--Ravenel, Mazyck P. The Resistance of
Bacteria to Cold. Pp. 5.--Veeder, M. A. Questions in regard to the
Diphtheria Bacillus. Pp. 6.--West, Max. The Public Domain of the
United States. Pp. 32.--Wilder, Burt C. Some Misapprehensions as to
the Simplified Nomenclature of Anatomy. Pp. 24.

Ripley, William Z. The Races of Europe. Accompanied by a Supplementary
Bibliography of the Anthropology and Ethnology of Europe. Published by
the Public Library of the City of Boston. New York: D. Appleton and
Company. Pp. 624, with plates and Supplement, Pp. 160. $6.

Stearns, Frederick, and Pilsby, Henry A. Catalogue of the Marine
Mollusks of Japan. Detroit: Frederick Stearns. Pp. 196, with plates.

Tilden, William A. A Short History of the Progress of Scientific
Chemistry within our own Times. New York: Longmans, Green & Co. Pp.
276.

United States Department of Agriculture: Bulletin No. 19. The
Structure of the Caryopsis of Grasses with Reference to their
Morphology and Classification. By P. B. Kennedy. Pp. 44, with
plates.--No. 26. Lightning and the Electricity of the Air. By A. G.
McAdie and A. J. Henry. Pp. 74, with plates.--No. 56. History and
Present Status of Instruction in Cooking in the Public Schools of New
York City. By Mrs. L. E. Hogan. Pp. 70.

Vincenti, Giuseppi. La Fonografia Universale Michela, o La
Fono-Telegrafia Universale Vincenti. (The Michela Universal
Phonography, or the Vincenti Universal Phono-Telegraphy.) In Italian,
French, and English. Pp. 40, with plates.--Short Course in Michela's
Universal Hand-Phonographic System. (In Italian.) Pp. 24; New and
Partial Applications of Michela's Phonographic Table for the Use of
the Universal Alphabet. Pp. 6. (All published at Ivrea, Italy.)

Warder, George W. The New Cosmogony. New York: J. S. Ogilvie
Publishing Company. Pp. 293.

Warman, Cy. Snow on the Headlight. A Story of the Great Burlington
Strike. New York: D. Appleton and Company. Pp. 249. $1.25.

Weber, Adna F. The Growth of Cities in the Nineteenth Century. A Study
in Statistics. (Columbia University Studies.) New York: The Macmillan
Company. Pp. 495. $3.50.

Yale University, Observatory of. Report for 1898-'99. Pp. 21.




Fragments of Science.


=Death of Dr. Brinton.=--By the death of Dr. Daniel G. Brinton, at
Atlantic City, N. J., July 31st, America loses one of the most
industrious and intelligent students of its ethnology, languages, and
antiquities. We think we may safely say of him that he did as much as
any other single man among us to organize and systematize these
studies and put them on a stable foundation and a broad basis. To them
he devoted his time, his heart, and his fortune. Dr. Brinton was born
in West Chester, Pa., in 1837; was a graduate of Yale College and of
Jefferson Medical College; served in medical departments in the United
States Volunteer Army during the civil war; was for several years
editor of the Medical and Surgical Reporter and of the Quarterly
Compendium of Medical Science; and was finally drawn predominantly to
the study of American ethnology and languages, to which he contributed
a long list of books, special articles, and paragraphs, a large
proportion of them fruits of his own investigations. For his work in
this department he received, in 1866, the medal of the Société
Américaine de France. He was Professor of Ethnology and Archæology in
the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and of American
Linguistics and Archæology in the University of Pennsylvania, and was
President of the Antiquarian and Numismatic Society of Philadelphia.
He was President of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science in 1894. He established a library and publishing house of
aboriginal American literature, and one of his most noteworthy works
was the publication in this library of a series of original texts in
the languages of North and South American tribes, with commentaries
and translations, in the preparation of which he called in other
Americanists to assist him. In this way he contributed much to save a
literature and a history that were fast disappearing. A few months
ago, as was mentioned in the Monthly at the time, he presented his
entire collection of books, pamphlets, and manuscripts, many original
and some unique, relating to the aboriginal languages of North and
South America, to the University of Pennsylvania.

=Nebraska as a Home for Birds.=--Mr. Lawrence Bruner introduces his
Notes on Nebraska Birds with the expression of a belief, founded on
his own observations for twenty-five years, together with those of
about fifty other persons to whose notes he has had access, that
Nebraska, although a prairie State, has an unusually large bird fauna.
The notes show 415 species and subspecies as visiting the State, while
there are records of 227 species breeding within its borders, and of
more than 700 winter residents. "When we learn that only about 780
species are recorded for the whole of North America north of the
Mexican boundary, it certainly seems astonishing that from among them
we should receive so large a percentage. If, however, we take into
consideration the variations in altitude above sea level, the
differences in surface configuration, climate, etc., that pertain to
our State, its location, and the relation which it bears to the
country at large, perhaps the wonderment will become less." The
southeastern corner of Nebraska is only eight hundred feet, the
western border almost six thousand feet, above tide water. The State
is divided into timber, prairie, and plain regions. It lies in the
middle of the United States, with a high mountain chain to the west
and a giant water way along its eastern boundary. In fact, eastern,
western, northern, and southern fauna meet in Nebraska, and it also
has a fauna of its own. Forms are found there that belong to low and
high altitudes, to wet and dry climates, to prairie and timbered
countries, and to semi-desert and alkali regions.

=The Power of the Imagination.=--The following interesting experiment
is described in the Psychological Review for July by E. E. Slosson, of
the University of Wyoming: "I had prepared a bottle, filled with
distilled water, carefully wrapped in cotton and packed in a box.
After some other experiments in the course of a popular lecture I
stated that I wished to see how rapidly an odor would be diffused
through the air, and requested that as soon as any one perceived the
odor he should raise his hand. I then unpacked the bottle in the front
of the hall, poured the water over the cotton, holding my head away
during the operation, and started a stop-watch while awaiting results.
I explained that I was quite sure no one in the audience had ever
smelled the chemical compound which I had poured out, and expressed
the hope that while they might find the odor strong and peculiar it
would not be disagreeable to any one. In fifteen seconds most of those
in the front row had raised their hands, and in forty seconds the
'odor' had spread to the back of the hall, keeping a pretty regular
'wave front' as it passed on. About three quarters of the audience
claimed to perceive the smell, the obstinate minority including more
men than the average of the whole. More would probably have succumbed
to the suggestion, but at the end of a minute I was obliged to stop
the experiment, for some on the front seats were being unpleasantly
affected, and were about to leave the room."

=Government Scientific Work.=--Mr. Charles W. Dabney, Jr., of
Knoxville, Tenn., while having a very high opinion of the scientific
work of the Government, finds it greatly scattered and confused, and
often multiplied, among the departments. There are three distinct and
separate agencies for measuring the land of the country, four
hydrographic offices in as many departments, and five separate and
distinct Government chemical laboratories. The Coast Survey, the Naval
Observatory, and the Weather Bureau are all engaged in studying the
magnetism of the earth. Three distinct branches of the Interior
Department are engaged in irrigation work, and the census has
published a report on the subject, while the report of a board
appointed to examine into the matter shows that eight bureaus of the
Interior and Agriculture Departments must co-operate in order to
accomplish any thorough work on the great problem of irrigation. The
statistics of the natural resources and the products of the country,
of exports and imports, of populations, schools, etc., are collected
and compiled by eight or ten different agencies in five or six
different departments. Mr. Dabney's remedy for this condition is the
consolidation of all the scientific work under a single department, to
constitute a National Department of Science. This seems hardly
necessary. The scientific work of the departments has grown under the
pressure of their necessities, relating chiefly to the examination of
an unsettled and unexplored country. So long and so far as such work
is essential to the legitimate work of the department it will have to
be done within it. All work beyond this can be left to the Smithsonian
Institution, the universities and scientific academies, and individual
effort. The Government of the United States is not a scientific body.

=American Indians and Mongolians.=--In answer to Major Powell's
theory, recently expressed anew, that while there may be a unity of
species in the ancient physical man, the civilization, arts,
industries, institutions, languages, and opinions of the American
tribes were autochthonous, and owed nothing to Old-World influences;
Mr. James Wickersham, of Tacoma, Washington, maintains that our
Indians are connected in blood with the Mongolian stock of East Asia
and none other, and that their arts, etc., were derived thence in
comparatively recent times. In the comparison he makes, for argument,
between the two races he finds a considerable number of features that
were common and peculiar to both. Of both, the Chino-Japanese and the
Americans, he says: "The most civilized tribes spoke a monosyllabic
language, others spoke an agglutinative tongue; their writing was
ideographic and written from right to left, from top to bottom; their
systems of numeration were based upon the digital count, and their old
numerals up to nineteen were practically identical; their calendar
systems were alike in principle, and nearly so in details; both
divided time into cycles and quarters thereof; the solar year in both
regions began at the winter solstice, and the solstices were
celebrated in both lands on the same day by the same national
festivals; both prepared almanacs on paper of national
manufacture; the good or evil power of every day was fixed by the
priest-astronomer, and each almanac also contained medical receipts
and astrological formulæ and a table of religious festivals; the same
elements, colors, viscera, birds, seasons, and planets were assigned
in the same general scheme to the cardinal points." Like similarities
are traced in constitutions, laws, ecclesiastical institutions,
monastic orders, and physical aspects.

=The Teaching of Bows and Arrows.=--What the study of so simple a
subject as bows and arrows may reveal is illustrated by Mr. Herman
Meyer's paper in the Smithsonian Report for 1896 on Bows and Arrows in
Central Brazil; an introduction giving a general outline of a
contemplated larger work which intended to set forth for the
circumscribed region of the Matto-Grosso, how, through the harmonizing
of different tribal groups, ethnographic types arise; what share the
several associated tribes have had in this creation of groups; and, on
the other hand, what ethnographic development within the group each
tribe has undergone. While the South American Indian tribes have
different special methods of capturing wild animals, they all have as
the chief weapon the bow and arrow, which even the gun can not
supplant. The tribes that are now sedentary, which practice hunting
along with agriculture only for amusement, exercise still the greatest
care upon the preparation of this weapon, and know how to use it with
skill. In their sagas the bow and arrow still play an important part.
They are regarded almost as sacred, and are frequently used as cult
objects. When bows and arrows are exchanged for other weapons the
children keep up the old reminiscences, and hold on to the bow and
arrow as playthings. The South American Indian is accustomed to
recognize the tribe by its arrow. A grouping by these weapons, a
separation of forms according to specific marks of structure, is
possible for the study of the tribes. The feathering, which seems to
be capable of unlimited variation, is of great importance. A great
deal of care may be bestowed on the fastening of the feather, on the
wrapping of the shaft with thread, or upon the manner of fitting the
feather. The wrapping of the feathered end or shaftment offers
excellent opportunity to preserve certain textile patterns, perhaps
the one remaining survival of the old tribal peculiarity. The
fastening of the point to the shaft or to the foreshaft also affords a
safe datum for discriminating, and the shape of the point furnishes a
guide for differentiations.

=An Aztec Pictorial Record.=--The forty-four paintings of the _Mapa de
Cuauhtlantzinco_ were executed in oil colors on European paper by an
artist named Tepozetecatl, and are of high importance in the history
of the conquest of Mexico. The Pueblo of San Juan de Cuauhtlantzinco,
to which they belong, is situated between the cities of Pueblo and
Cholula, and is inhabited by about fifteen hundred people, who still
speak the Aztec language. The pictures, each about sixteen by twelve
inches in size, were discovered about thirty years ago by Padre D.
José Vicente Campos, who, to save them from decay, had them pasted on
cotton sheeting and mounted in two frames. They contain scenes from
the conquest--not badly executed--and portraits of aborigines. Each
bears a text in Nahuatl, which Padre Campos translated into Spanish
and appended the translation to the original. Another series of
ancient paintings somewhat like these was preserved for a long time at
Tlaxcala, but, according to Prof. Frederick Starr, they were less
personal and less local. They are called the _Lienzo de Tlaxcala_, and
picture all the important events of conquest from the time when Cortes
came into contact with the Tlascalans till the city of Mexico was
captured. The Mapa de Cuauhtlantzinco deals with but little space;
perhaps Texculco and Chalco and Quimistlan describe its limits. The
pictures and the texts in Spanish and English have been copied by
Professor Starr, who publishes them for their ethnological interest,
in that they illustrate a practice, common at the time of the
conquest, of painting representations of important matters; that they
in many cases present successful portraits; that they are, in
conception and execution, truly native works of art; that they give
considerable information relative to daily life and customs; and that
they are psychically interesting in showing the feelings of the
natives shortly after the conquest toward their conquerors and toward
the newly introduced religion. The town of Cuauhtlantzinco appears to
have been settled between 1519 and 1528 by refugees from Cholula, who
were driven away because they had gone to Tlaxcala to visit Cortes and
invite him to come to their pueblo.

=Permanence of the Fish Supply.=--A Scottish fish commission has been
for fifteen years conducting an experimental research on the capacity
of the sea to bear the drain upon its resources made by the growing
industry of trawl fishing along shore. Some first-class fishing
grounds along the coast were closed for several years, in the
anticipation that the fish, freed from molestation, would breed and
multiply in them. The conclusion reached from examination of the
results has been that fishing or no fishing makes no difference
whatever. "On the preserved grounds there are no more fish, and no
less, than when the trawls were daily dragged across the bottoms of
the bays. For the rest of the areas frequented by trawlers beyond the
three-mile limit the happy conclusion is that there are as many fish
in the sea as ever, and that the supply does not diminish, in spite of
the increased and increasing number of ships engaged in the fisheries
and their fine equipment." The equipment of steam trawlers for the
North Sea and the open ocean has become an immense industry in the
east of England. Never have so much capital and labor been spent in
harrying the fish since the fishing began. "Yet the take steadily
increases as the boats increase. 'The great labor and expenditure of
the last ten years prove that the balance of Nature in the neighboring
seas is steadily maintained, and that there is no need for anxiety
concerning the continuance of every species of good fish.' ... It is
now clear that life in the sea is not dependent on what takes place
near the shore. In other words, it is difficult to destroy marine
life, so far as fish are concerned, by mischief done near the coast.
Their area of propagation and reproduction is too large for land
creatures like us, who can only invade the sea in boats, seriously to
injure it." Yet the experiments and experience of the United States
Fish Commission show that we are able to increase the supply
immensely.

=Relative Power of Fungicides.=--Mr. F. L. Stevens has published, in
the Botanical Gazette, an account of experiments made for the purpose
of establishing with some degree of accuracy the strengths of various
solutions which are necessary to prevent the growth of fungous spores.
The bearing of this question upon the relation of a fungicide to its
efficiency is apparent. As among the general results the author finds
that mercuric chloride is the strongest chemical used in its toxic
effect upon the fungi, while potassium cyanide is remarkably weak
considering its great toxic action on animals. Alcohol and sodium
chloride have a stimulating effect. Various fungi offer different
resistance to poisons, and the limits of resistance will vary in the
same species. The spores of fungi are less susceptible than the roots
of seedlings. A chemical may be twice as powerful as another against
one fungus, while in acting upon another fungus an entirely different
ratio may be sustained. An occasional spore may germinate and grow
quite normally in a solution that prevents hundreds of normal spores
around it from germinating. Penicillium as a nutrient medium offered
greater resistance to poisons than did any of the other fungi worked
upon. Uromyces did not diminish in vigor of growth with the increased
strength of the poison, but the percentage of spores that germinated
was diminished. In general, the results of the action of the chemicals
were in accord with the theory of hydrolytic association. Incidentally
new evidence bearing upon the theory of the hydrolytic dissociation of
the molecule was adduced, together with facts that may throw some
light upon the structure of the cell wall.

=National Forest Reserves.=--The report of the Secretary of the
Interior for the year ending June 30, 1898, mentions thirty forest
reservations (exclusive of the Afognac Forest and Fish-Culture Reserve
in Alaska) as existing by presidential proclamation under the act of
March 3, 1891, embracing an estimated area of 40,719,474 acres. The
patrolling of the reserves has shown that fire is the paramount danger
to which they are exposed. Next to fire, sheep-raising is the most
serious difficulty to be considered in administering the reserves.
Yet, as it is not considered expedient to prohibit so important an
industry throughout the reserves, special efforts have been directed
toward ascertaining the particular regions in which the conditions
demand the exclusion of sheep, and toward learning what restrictions
may be necessary in other regions. The institution of a national
system of timber cutting to be economical in all directions is under
consideration, but it is acknowledged that the work will require a
certain degree of experience and training on the part of forest
officers. A forest system inaugurated by the department in August,
1898, in which the reserves are placed under the control of a graded
force of officers, has already shown good results; the reports
received from the forest officers indicate that the patrolling has
limited both the number and extent of fires. During the eighteen
months previous to the preparation of the report in November, 1898, a
great advance was made toward a comprehensive administration of the
public forests. A marked change in public sentiment toward forest
policy is noticed, with a subsidence of the opposition to the reserves
and a tendency among the people in the localities directly interested
to take a deep and approving interest in the matter.

=Sloyd as an Educational Factor.=--Mr. Gustaf Larsson, of the Sloyd
Training School, Boston, represents, in his Bulletin, that Sloyd is
steadily gaining ground, and has been introduced, during the past
year, into city schools, colleges, and charitable institutions, and
that many clubs and social organizations are becoming interested in it
as an educational factor. The Sloyd principles seem to meet a cordial
welcome wherever they are adequately presented. Mr. Larsson insists
that in Sloyd instruction the teacher should enter into the child's
point of view, and must never forget, he says, that it is the real
work which appeals to him, and not the particular exercise or the
typical use of the tool. As Dr. Henderson says, it is not necessary to
be forever suggesting to him that he is being educated. "We must see,
feel, and think with the worker, and so introduce our disciplinary
exercises that he practices them correctly while still carrying out
his own dearest desire. In this way only can he get the greatest
benefit from any exercise. We must constantly bear in mind that we are
aiming at a well-developed producer rather than a perfect product....
Whenever a piece of work, however poor in itself, stands for a child's
best effort, it is a highly satisfactory production from the true
teacher's point of view. He must remember also to keep constantly
before us the fact that independence and self-reliance are to be
cultivated from the outset." Sloyd claims to be peculiar in aiming at
ethical rather than technical results, and at general organic
development rather than special skill; in employing only pedagogically
trained teachers; in using rationally progressive courses of exercises
applied on objects of good form which are also of special use to the
worker; in striving after gymnastically correct working positions in
encouraging the use of both the left and right sides of the body; and
in giving to each individual opportunity to progress according to his
peculiar ability. These points have been emphasized in Sloyd from its
beginning in Sweden more than twenty-five years ago.

=Hawaiian Reptiles.=--It is shown, in a paper on the subject by Dr.
Leonhard Stejneger, published by the United States National Museum,
that there are no true land reptiles in the Hawaiian archipelago other
than a few species of lizards, all belonging to the cosmopolitan
families--the geckoes (four species) and the skinks (three species).
All of these, except one of the geckoes, belong to species widely
distributed over the Indo-Polynesian island world, while the gecko
excepted has close relatives in New Caledonia, Java, Sumatra, and
Ceylon. This distribution is regarded by the author as not sustaining
the theory of a once continuous land connection between the various
island groups, but rather, by the limited number of species, as
indicating that at the time of the immigration of the lizards the
islands were separated from other lands. Yet these land creatures
could not have been distributed over thousands of miles of ocean by
ordinary means, and the agency of man has to be invoked. From various
considerations it is permissible to conclude that they came to the
islands with the ancestors of the Hawaiians. No records are known of
any of the marine snakes having been taken at the Sandwich Islands.
Marine turtles live in the seas surrounding the archipelago and breed
upon some of its outlying islands, but little is known of them. There
are no indigenous batrachians in the group, but frogs and toads are
said to have been brought, intentionally, from China, Japan, and
America to assist in the fight against mosquitoes.


MINOR PARAGRAPHS.

Miss Kingsley defines one of the fundamental doctrines of African
fetich as being that the connection of a certain spirit with a certain
mass of matter, a material object, is not permanent. "The African will
point out to you a lightning-stricken tree and tell you that its
spirit has been killed; he will tell you when the cooking pot has gone
to bits that it has lost its spirit; if his weapon fails, it is
because some one has stolen or made sick its spirit by means of
witchcraft. In every action of his daily life he shows you how he
lives with a great, powerful spirit world around him. You will see
him, before starting out to hunt or fight, rubbing medicine into his
weapons to strengthen the spirit within them, talking the while,
telling them what care he has taken of them, reminding them of the
gifts he has given them, though those gifts were hard to give, and
begging them in the hour of his dire necessity not to fail him. You
will see him bending over the face of a river, talking to its spirit
with proper incantations, asking it when it meets a man who is an
enemy of his to upset his canoe or drown him, or asking it to carry
down with it some curse to the village below which has angered him,
and in a thousand other ways he shows you what he believes if you
will watch him patiently. It is a very important point in the study of
pure fetich to gain a clear conception of this arrangement of things
in grades. As far as I have gone I think I may say fourteen classes of
spirits exist in fetich. Dr. Nassau, of Gaboon, thinks that the
spirits affecting human affairs can be classified completely into six
classes."

At a recent meeting of the Institute of Mining Engineers (England),
reported by Industries and Iron, Mr. J. A. Longden, who delivered the
opening address, discussed the problem presented by the rapid
exhaustion of the English coal fields. During the last twenty-five
years, he said, the output of coal had increased from 120,000,000 to
200,000,000 tons, the ratio of increase being two and a half per cent
per annum. Assuming that the increase for the next twenty-five years
will only be one and a half per cent, the coal output in 1925 would
reach 280,000,000 tons. At such an increasing annual output the
commercially workable coal would be practically used up. Mr. Longden
suggested the propriety of putting an export duty of sixpence per ton
on all coal exported, and finally said: The evidence before them all
pointed to one thing--namely, that in fifty years they would
practically be dependent on the United States of America for cheap
coal, iron, and steel, and when this came about "we or our sons will
find out that an alliance with the United States for coaling our navy
was imperative." In conclusion, he insisted upon the necessity of
taking measures to avoid waste in the coal industry.

The following note is from Nature of May 11th: "At the last meeting of
the Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland Dr. Elliot Smith
settled a point in the comparative morphology of the brain which at
one time was the subject of a heated controversy between Huxley and
Owen. In 1861, it may be remembered, Owen maintained that the _calcar
avis_ and the calcarine fissure which causes it were characters
peculiar to the brain of man, a statement which Huxley showed to be
untrue, the formation being well marked in all primate brains. Dr.
Elliot Smith has reached the further generalization that the _calcar
avis_ is a character shown by all mammalian brains, with the possible
exception of the prototherian. He identifies--and the reasons for this
identification do not seem capable of refutation--the calcarine
fissure of the primate brain with the splenial fissure of the brain of
other mammals. This generalization will materially assist in
homologizing the primate and unguiculate _pallium_."

The influence of wind on the speed of steamers is of considerably more
importance than is generally believed. In the _Annalen der
Hydrographie_ for January, 1899, L. E. Dinklage describes some
observations recently made on two of the North German Lloyd steamers
of about five thousand tons and fifteen or sixteen knots. The results
show that when the wind was favorable no difference whatever could be
detected in the speed of the vessels during a light breeze or a heavy
gale. But with a beam (cross-wind) or head wind a reduction of from
three to five knots and a half was produced. The obvious conclusion is
that the wind when favorable never helps a fast steamer, but always
hinders it when unfavorable. Probably with vessels steaming ten knots
or less a favoring gale might increase the speed.


NOTES.

The burden of the president's address of J. B. Johnson before the
Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education is the necessity
for our future material prosperity for a specific scientific training
for the directors of each and every kind of manufacturing and
commercial activity. Germany "has worked out this problem to a most
fruitful issue," but its imperial and paternal method can not be
imitated here, or probably anywhere else. The problem is a very
difficult one with us, and it will be of no use to look to
municipalities or Legislatures for its solution. There exist a few
special high-grade industrial, commercial, mechanical, electrical, and
mining schools, but they are entirely inadequate to answer the demands
of the occasion. The author looks to organized commercial bodies like
the one he is addressing as furnishing the best means for establishing
the schools desired.

Prof. F. L. Washburn, of the University of Oregon, describes in the
American Naturalist a curious specimen of the toad (_Bufo
columbiensis_), which has an extra arm projecting from the left side
just in front of the normal left arm. The extra arm has seven digits,
and is without an elbow joint, but is slightly movable at the
proximal joint next to the body. Its radius and ulna are separate
bones, not fused as they are normally. The dissection shows other
peculiarities of structure, such as might be expected from a
consideration of the exterior. The species, normal, is common in parts
of Oregon.

It is related of Charcot, the distinguished alienist, late of the
Salpêtrière, Paris, that he had marked artistic ability, and when he
was seventeen years old his family had some hesitation whether to make
him a doctor or a painter. He chose the medical profession. He was
fond of drawing sketches of his patients, and of landscapes he saw in
his travels, and was not above making an occasional caricature.
Several albums are filled with designs of this kind. A study of his
work as an artist was prepared by Dr. Henri Meige in connection with
the erection of his monument, and is deposited in the Salpêtrière.

The Russian decree nullifying the constitutional privileges of
Finland, notwithstanding treaty guarantees, is producing an effect
that was probably not intended or anticipated. Realizing the futility
of resistance and holding the people true to their reputation of being
the most peaceable, enlightened, and orderly of the Czar's subjects,
the representatives of the Finns are said to be quietly making
inquiries about the prospects of settlement in the Canadian Northwest
and other free regions.

Despite the growing use of motor traction, the raising of horses gives
no sign of diminishing. Against 212,827 horses in 1888, the Argentine
Republic has, by the census of 1895, 4,234,032. That country now ranks
third in horse-rearing nations, being excelled only by Russia and the
United States.

M. André Broca has found, concerning the use of India-rubber supports
for isolating physical apparatus from earth tremors, that when
apparatus having movable parts are supported in this way the
vibrations, instead of being reduced, may in some cases be increased
tenfold. But when the apparatus consists entirely of rigid material
there is no better way of insuring steadiness than by resting it on
India rubber.

The Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Tuberculosis works for
the single end of educating the community in a knowledge of the true
nature of consumption and of the means of controlling or conquering
it. For this it diffuses literature, seeks the aid of persons in
influential positions, and strives to obtain the requisite conditions
for restoring those early afflicted and for preventing the
communication of infection to others from those far advanced. Its main
effort is directed toward the establishment of a municipal hospital
for tuberculous patients, and for a sanatorium in the high regions of
the State. For the last purpose it is offered a most desirable
location in Luzerne County.

The list of recent deaths among men known in science includes the
names of W. W. Norman, Professor of Biology in the University of
Texas; John Whitehead, who died while on a scientific mission to the
island of Hainan, for which he left England in the autumn of 1898;
Naval Lieutenant Charles William Baillie, Marine Superintendent of the
English Meteorological Office, inventor of the hydra sounding machine,
late Director of Nautical Studies at the Imperial Naval College,
Tokio, and author of important meteorological investigations, at
Broadstairs, June 2th, aged fifty-five years; Henry Wollaston Blake,
an original member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, of the
Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and of the British Association,
and a Fellow of the Royal Society, eighty-four years of age; Edward
Jannetaz, a French mineralogist, an assistant in the Museum of Paris,
and Lecturer on Mineralogy for forty years, Master of Conferences in
the Faculty of Sciences, author of _Les Roches_ and other books, aged
sixty-seven years; Dr. Eugen Ritter von Lommell, of the University of
Munich, distinguished in mathematics, physics, and optics, and author
of several books on those subjects, including The Nature of Light in
the International Scientific Series, June 19th, in his sixty-third
year; Sir Alexander Armstrong, arctic navigator and discoverer of the
Northwest passage, late Director-General of the Medical Department of
the British Museum, and author of a narrative of his great discovery
and of a work on Naval Hygiene; Dr. Hugo Weidel, Professor of
Chemistry in the University of Vienna; Sir William Henry Flower, late
Director of the British Museum of Natural History, Past President of
the British Association, at the time of his death President of the
Zoölogical Society of London, and author of several excellent books on
zoölogy, natural history, museums, and kindred subjects, aged
sixty-eight years; and Dr. Daniel G. Brinton, the distinguished
American ethnologist and linguist, of whom we give a fuller notice
elsewhere.




Transcriber's Notes:


Words surrounded by _ are italicized.

Words surrounded by = are bold.

Obvious printer's errors have been repaired, other inconsistent
spellings have been kept.

Some illustrations were relocated to correspond to their references in
the text.





End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Appletons' Popular Science Monthly,
September 1899, by Various

*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 46383 ***