488 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



" copy " of this kind might have been secured. Everything considered, 

 this class of copy must have been interesting reading for the public. No 

 one can question its educational value. To the members of the congress 

 themselves it was a help in learning to know each other. In two excep- 

 tional cases these sketches may have been unnecessarily embarrassing 

 to the persons concerned, owing to the well-known journalistic tendency 

 to be sensational. The contents of the headlines must have appeared 

 brutal to a Chinese geologist, whom they proclaimed as having arrived 

 in Toronto " in bond." 



The many excursions arranged under the auspices of the congress 

 received ample attention, seven per cent, of the text reporting such 

 events. Preference was given to details of general human interest, such 

 as the mode of travel, the personnel of the excursions, and some un- 

 toward or amusing incidents. Some reporters appeared disposed to fur- 

 nish entertainment to the reader at the expense of the excursionists, as 

 when they related in mock-heroic style the vicissitudes of an " armada " 

 of steam launches exposed to a rough sea on an excursion to Scarboro 

 Heights. Though it appears that the press reports might very profitably 

 have presented more of the scientific significance of the things seen on 

 these excursions, any such purpose on the part of the reporter promptly 

 gave way to the dominant instinct of his class to entertain rather than 

 instruct. A visit to the Don Valley, altogether without exciting inci- 

 dents of any kind, resulted in more serious, though quite brief, refer- 

 ences in the papers to the significance of the phenomena noted on the 

 trip. 



Editorial writers are usually not interested in the world of science. 

 Nevertheless, some editorial comments on the congress were made in the 

 Toronto papers. These touched on the practical utility of scientific re- 

 search, and on the relation of society to physical sciences in general. 

 They expressed also a mild defence of these sciences, stating that they 

 are in the popular mind unjustly associated with gross materialism. 



The fertile resources of the reporters were shown in their interview- 

 ing at least two geologists on a subject of unfailing popular interest — 

 the age of the earth. One of the interviewed gentlemen was quoted as 

 making his estimate 200,000,000 years. Another geologist said it was 

 an unprofitable subject to discuss, and that different people meant 

 different things in speaking of "creation," or of the beginning of the 

 earth. The truth of this latter statement became quite evident in the 

 discussion at one of the sessions of the congress, but this perhaps escaped 

 the attention of the reporters. 



The total space given to the reporting of the congress was nearly 

 3,000 square inches. Of this space about sixty-seven per cent, was text, 

 seventeen per cent, was given to the reproduction of photographs or to 

 other illustrations, and sixteen per cent, was taken up by large head- 



