EDITOR'S TABLE. 



239 



of plausible imposture. The skilful 

 knave, with his new process and patent- 

 right, practises on this half-knowledge 

 of the community, and enriches him- 

 self at the expense of his victims. He 

 is very candid, and would have them 

 take nothing on trust. He will bring 

 his idea to the test of experiment. 

 They shall see for themselves, and 

 need take nobody's word. "This ar- 

 rangement will produce such an effect. 

 I don't ask you to accept my statement, 

 I will demonstrate it ; " and with an 

 impressive parade of fixtures, and much 

 scientific talk, the alleged wonderful 

 things are done. With those who have 

 not thoroughly learned that every thiug 

 depends not upon effects produced, but 

 upon their quantities, the next step of 

 the unscrupulous patent-agent is easy. 

 Having established himself in his cus- 

 tomer's confidence, he does the rest 

 by profuse asseveration and persistent 

 lying. " The facts are proved ; it is a 

 new discovery; it will revolutionize 

 the business, and somebody is going to 

 make enormous profits you had better 

 have some of the stock." But the skil- 

 ful speculator may go still further. If 

 sharply met by the question of econ- 

 omy, or exactly how much is gained by 

 his process, he may proceed to prove 

 his claim on the spot. He may demon- 

 strate experimentally and completely 

 that his operation has the advantage 

 by many per-cent. over those in use, 

 while the project is still a worthless 

 fraud : for it is possible in a small way, 

 and with careful experiments, to pro- 

 duce quantitative results which cannot 

 be realized on the manufacturing scale. 

 There is no end to the schemes that 

 are palmed oif upon the public in this 

 way. A morning paper that has just 

 come to hand has the following item : 



" Will water burn ? And, if so, can 

 burning water be used at a moderate cost 

 for fuel ? The public mind of Peoria, 111., 

 has been of late much exercised upon these 

 questions. A stranger and a Yankee came 

 to the city and claimed that, by burning 



mixed water and oil in it, he could heat a 

 common cooking-stove red-hot in five min- 

 utes. The proportions were four gallons 

 of oil to five gallons of water, and with this 

 quantity the inventor declared that he could 

 run a steam-engine for thirty days, heat 

 twelve furnaces, or light a whole city with 

 gas. The oil was worth 50 cents a barrel, 

 and cooking, heating, and lighting, were thus 

 to cost almost nothing. A stock company 

 was started to push the enterprise, and it 

 was found that ' by the aid of twelve gal- 

 lons of oil two gallons of water could be 

 evaporated.' It didn't promise overwhelm- 

 ing dividends. The corporation disembodied 

 itself as fast as possible, and the inventor, 

 packing up his gas-pipes and oil-cans, left 

 Peoria, to enlighten and warm some other 



region. 



How true this statement jmay hap- 

 pen to be, we do not know ; but we do 

 know that analogous cases are abun- 

 dant. 



These consequences are a natural 

 result of superficial scientific teaching. 

 A little science is now dispensed in all 

 schools ; but it is generally the qualita- 

 tive rudiments that are easiest taught, 

 and which serve only to make pedants 

 of the pupils. A mass of the simpler 

 facts are memorized as mere sensa- 

 tional acquisition, and there is very 

 little training in principles, or scientific 

 method. It is not to be expected that 

 in general education students will pos- 

 sess themselves of all the higher quali- 

 tative data of science, so as to be able 

 to meet any emergency with ready and 

 accurate information. But, for pro- 

 tection from such impositions as we 

 have here noticed, there should be 

 such a cultivation of the scientific judg- 

 ment as will guard against the grosser 

 fallacies put forth by unscrupulous pro- 

 jectors. 



TEE QUESTION OF STIMULATION. 

 The article in our present number, 

 on the physiological position of al- 

 cohol, by Dr. Richardson, an eminent 

 physician of London, is the freshest ex- 

 position of the subject yet offered. Its 



