FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCF. 



421 



ly have but one result in the great majority 

 of cases, namely, that of making the knowl- 

 edge gained simply the means of obtaining a 

 degree, and not an end in itself a something 

 to be used and then thrown aside and forgot- 

 ten. The absolute inability of most students 

 to make any practical application of their col- 

 lege learning, or to see the connection and in- 

 terdependence between its various branches, 

 is a clear indication of the light in which they 

 regard it. The same conditions which pre- 

 vail in the English schools are even more pro- 

 nounced in the United States, and while Prof. 

 Ramsay's causa vera is only part of the story, 

 his article as well as Dr. Ostwald's letter de- 

 serves the thoughtful attention of our edu- 

 cators and economists, for, while we have no 

 commercial supremacy to lose, we have, what 

 is perhaps more important, one to gain. 



Prospective Railway Routes in Africa. 



In describing, before the Geographical Sec- 

 tion of the British Association, the probable 

 railroad routes in Africa, Major Leonard 

 Darwin, president of the section, mentioned 

 the routes up the Nile and into parts of the 

 central Soudan as among the most important. 

 In the Nile route, the river itself would afford 

 a large part of the medium of communica- 

 tion ; but the region of the cataracts, covering 

 several hundred miles, would have to be 

 spanned by a railway connecting the lower 

 river with Berber. Above Berber is a navi- 

 gable waterway at high Nile for fourteen 

 hundred miles to the Fels rapids, besides be- 

 tween four hundred and six hundred miles 

 on the Blue Nile and the Bahr-el-Gazal. 

 There is, perhaps, only one other place in 

 Africa where an equal expenditure would 

 open up such a large tract of country as be- 

 tween Suakim and Berber. Two routes for 

 railways from the coast to the Victoria Ny- 

 anza have been proposed, one running through 

 the British and the other through the Ger- 

 man sphere of influence. The German route 

 would be the shorter of the two ; but there 

 is some reason to think that the British line 

 will open up more country east of the lake 

 which will be suitable for prolonged residence 

 by white men. A line from the south end of 

 Lake Tanganyika to the northern end of Lake 

 Nyassa and thence to the coast would open 

 up a vast extent of territory, and would, espe- 

 cially if eventually connected with the Vic- 



toria Nyanza, be more valuable than any 

 other line in Africa in putting an end to the 

 slave trade. On the west coast, the Congo 

 points to the most important line of commu- 

 nication. After a hundred and fifty miles 

 of navigable waterway we come to two hun- 

 dred miles of rapids, along which a hundred 

 and seventeen miles of rails are already laid. 

 Then, on entering Stanley Pool there are, ac- 

 cording to the Belgian estimates, seven thou- 

 sand miles of waterway. If all the repre- 

 sentations are correct, there is no place in all 

 Africa where two hundred miles of railway 

 may be expected to produce such marked 

 results. Another region of great promise is 

 that of the Niger, but the political conditions 

 of th^ country it lying on the border land 

 between the Mohammedan and the pagan 

 tribes make the early execution of railways 

 somewhat problematical. Formidable moun- 

 tain ranges being few, the chief impediments 

 to railway construction in Africa are the 

 drifting sands, wide tracts of rocky country, 

 the dampness of the forest causing rapid 

 decay of material, and the deadly nature of 

 the climate. 



Tlie Evolution of Aseptic Surgery. A 



part of the presidential address of Sir Joseph 

 Lister at the British Association was devoted 

 to the story of the development of the au- 

 thor's system of aseptic treatment of wounds. 

 It began with the publication of the results 

 of Pasteur's researches on fermentation, by 

 which it was proved that putrefaction was 

 not produced by any chemical action of the 

 atmosphere, but by germs. Sir Joseph then 

 sought for some substance that would pre- 

 vent the development of germs in the bodily 

 tissues without harming the tissues them- 

 selves, and found it in carbolic acid. Diluted 

 with water, this substance when applied 

 quickly transferred itself to the tissues and 

 attacked the germs. In cases to which the 

 watery solution was not adapted, or where it 

 was too irritating, a solution in some organic 

 substance, not parting with the carboUc acid 

 so readily, was found to be bland and unirri- 

 tating, and sei-ved as a reliable store of the 

 antiseptic. While continuing his experi- 

 ments in confirmation of Pasteur's theory, 

 Sir Joseph found that blood drawn with 

 antiseptic precautions into sterilized vessels 

 might remain free from microbes for an in- 



