EDITOR'S TABLE. 



55 



hotly urged for immediate adoption. 

 This was the course of even so trained 

 a thinker as Mr. Mill. He brought his 

 resources of philosophy and logic to 

 bear upon the subject, and gave to the 

 reformers their text- book ; but he went 

 on as oblivious of science as if such a 

 thing had never been heard of. And 

 yet the fundamental questions of this 

 important movement belong solely to 

 scientific investigators. Politicians, phi- 

 lanthropists, and logicians, will grope 

 blindly and strike wildly in treating it, 

 until Science has instructed them in its 

 phenomena and laws, and shown them 

 what voice Nature has in the decision 

 of their questions. Politicians do not 

 seek this information, nor care for it, 

 when it is thrust upon them ; but, all 

 the same, the question must finally 

 be determined by it. As we have said 

 again and again, the missing factor, in 

 its current discussion, has been a scien- 

 tific exposition of the peculiarities of 

 the feminine nature, and this absent 

 factor is at the foundation of the whole 

 inquiry. But the discussion is already 

 beginning to turn in the scientific direc- 

 tion. The appearance and large circu- 

 lation of Dr. Clarke's books, and the 

 perturbations and reactions they have 

 produced, show that this bearing of the 

 subject is beginning to be appreciated. 

 We have recently published two excel- 

 lent- contributions, written by ladies, 

 which quietly assume the scientific 

 point of view, and recognize its con- 

 trolling importance. They even treat 

 this delicate and serious subject in the 

 light of the most advanced speculations, 

 against which many have an intense 

 repugnance, and thus testify that the 

 question can only be settled on the 

 basis of reason, fact, and natural law. 

 Other essays have been sent us with 

 varying merits, which we have been 

 compelled to decline for want of room, 

 and because we aim to represent that 

 scientific side of the subject which fails 

 to find expression in other magazines. 

 And now we ask the careful attention 



of our readers to the article of Dr. Van 

 De Warker, in the present Monthly, 

 on " Women in Relation to the Profes- 

 sions and Skilled Labor." The mode 

 of considering the subject adopted by 

 this writer is what has long been want- 

 ed ; and his facts and conclusions should 

 be well pondered by those who are ve- 

 hemently advocating " revolution " in 

 the social and industrial relations of 

 women. Philanthropy is an excellent 

 thing if duly enlightened ; measures of 

 relief are desirable if wisely conformed 

 to facts ; and therefore the first thing 

 is to hear what Science has to say as 

 to the fundamental conditions upon 

 which all genuine and permanent re- 

 form must depend. 



AN ELECTRO-MEDICAL HUMBUG. 



There appeared, in The Popular 

 Science Monthly of February, 1873, an 

 article entitled " Is Electricity Life ? " 

 taken from the English Belgravia Mag- 

 azine. Its admission to our pages was 

 an editorial inadvertence, the article 

 having been glanced at in haste, and 

 only the first portion of it read. Its 

 object, however, was to puff a quackish 

 device of magnetic chains and bands, 

 to be worn for the cure of nervous 

 diseases. They were first called "Pul- 

 vermacher's Rings," and, having now 

 been revived as " The Voltaic Arma- 

 dillo," they are advertised as indorsed 

 by The Popular Science Monthly. 

 The advertiser says that the most emi- 

 nent medical men of Europe and Amer- 

 ica approve their use, but none of their 

 names are given, the sole authority 

 quoted being the foreign writer in this 

 magazine. Now, the publication of that 

 article was a blunder ; and the article 

 itself is worthless and absurd : and if 

 all editors, who happen to have been, 

 at some time, the victims of careless 

 oversight will copy this paragraph, they 

 may help to protect a great number of 

 stupid people with " rheumatics " and 

 "neurology " against being humbugged. 



