112 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the established order of things, and vital 

 effects can no more be dissociated from 

 the properties and powers of matter 

 than can chemical or physical effects. 

 How far it is possible to unravel the 

 mysteries of life is not the question ; 

 how erroneous may be existing theories 

 upon the subject is not now the ques- 

 tion. Hypothetical views in relation 

 to it may be false, and the problem 

 itself may be insoluble; but, whether 

 this be so or not, or how far the solu- 

 tion is possible, it is for science alone 

 to determine. Certainly it is not for 

 those who have ever disdained the study 

 of matter to tell us what it can do and 

 what it cannot do, and how far science 

 is to be permitted to go in exploring it. 

 Those who revile matter, and invent 

 insulting epithets to be applied to those 

 who study it, and who consign to exe- 

 cration one of its devoted students for 

 expressing a more exalted sense of its 

 wonderful offices, are evidently not well 

 prepared to instruct us upon the subject. 

 The theologians are now freely using 

 the harmonies and adaptations of Na- 

 ture as proofs of wisdom and design on. 

 the part of the Creator. But to whom 

 are they indebted for a knowledge of 

 this evidence? To the scientists who 

 have disclosed this order, harmony, and 

 adaptation, by the study of matter. The 

 domain which theology of old allotted 

 to the devil, science has rescued to the 

 service of religion by the revelation of 

 its marvelous powers and capacities; 

 why, then, condemn the scientist if, 

 pushing on his investigation yet further, 

 he claims to discern yet higher poten- 

 cies and possibilities in this divine ma- 

 terial of which the universe is constitu- 

 ted? 



MINERAL-COLLECTING. 



In accordance with the wishes of 

 many mineral - collectors, who regard 

 the practice in vogue among mineral- 

 ogists, of exchanging the minerals of 

 their own for those of other localities 

 by a system of barter, as in many re- 



spects unsatisfactory and unproductive, 

 Prof. Leeds, of the Stevens Institute, 

 has proposed in a printed circular, a 

 copy of which has been placed in our 

 hands, to discontinue this time-honored 

 custom, and to inaugurate a system of 

 purchase. In accordance with a plan 

 stated in an article entitled " State Geo- 

 logical Surveys," in The Popular Sci- 

 ence Monthly of June, 1873, he has 

 collected the minerals occurring within 

 the province in which the institution 

 with which he is connected is located. 

 Quarryraen have been kept constantly 

 employed in blasting for a number of 

 months past, and several thousand 

 specimens have been obtained, all of 

 which have been paid for at the prices 

 usual for this description of labor. It 

 is evident that finely-crystallized min- 

 erals collected in this way can be ex- 

 changed in the ordinary fashion of bar- 

 ter, only at pecuniary loss in most 

 cases, and nearly always with some 

 measure of dissatisfaction to one or the 

 other party in the transaction. Those 

 who have been most generous and fair 

 in their exchanges have been those who 

 have suffered most. Instead of barter- 

 ing, the circular announces that prices 

 sufficient to cover the expenses of col- 

 lecting have been placed upon the 

 specimens, and they are to be sold. The 

 money received from their sale will be 

 devoted to the purchase of specimens 

 for the institute collection, and min- 

 erals sent as exchanges must be priced 

 by the senders, and paid for on the 

 same principles as regulate the purchase 

 of chemicals, apparatus, or any other 

 commercial article. For explanatory 

 circulars, catalogues, etc., address Prof. 

 A. R. Leeds, Stevens Institute, Hobo- 

 ken, New Jersey. 



PROFESSOR CAIRNES ON WOMAN 

 SUFFRAGE. 



Goldwin Smith's article upon this 

 subject, which was reproduced in the 

 August Monthly, has been replied to 

 in Macmillari's Magazine, where it first 



