DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



185 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



MAGAZINE SCIENCE. 

 To the Editor: In the course of the 

 past year or two I have read quite a 

 number of articles on scientific sub- 

 jects in diflferent magazines by Carl 

 Snyder. They seem very interesting, 

 and I should like to know whether they 

 are quite reliable. — B. F. L. 



[This question, which in one form or 

 another has been asked a number of 

 times, must be answered in the nega- 

 tive. Mr. Snyder appears not to have 

 had a scientific training; his articles 

 are sensational and inaccurate. This 

 somewhat sweeping condemnation is 

 easily justified. Let us consider the 

 last article by Mr. Snyder that has 

 come to our attention — ' The Mechan- 

 ism of the Brain ' in Harper's Monthly 

 for May. It is a potpourri of truth, 

 half-trutli and falsehood concerning 

 chemistry, physics, anatomy, physiol- 

 ogy and psychology. Thus we are told: 



Or, supposing that this especial colloid can- 

 not be fixed upon as the seat of the highest 

 powers of man, they might be thrown upon 

 that extraordinary and rather hypothetical 

 ether, of which physicists talk so much and 

 know 90 little. 



Within half a column Mr. Snyder 

 passes easily from the ether to elec- 

 tricity : 



As there is no nerve action without the evi- 

 dent presence ot electricity, it seems probable 

 that nerve action, thought, and consciousness, 

 and what in our present ignorance we call 

 electricity, are one and the same 



Physicists may not know all that they 

 would like to know about the ether 

 and electricity, but they know enough 

 not to write nonsense about them. 



As an example of misstatement of 

 fact the following may be quoted: 



The size of the brains of comparatively fe^^' 

 distinguished men is known, and most pub- 

 lished figures are worthless. The list given 

 below is authoritative, and speaks for itself. 

 . . . It will be seen that Byron, who was com- 

 monly supposed to have a small head, is highest 

 in the list ; and whatever may be thought of his 

 poetry, certainly he was a man of rather medi- 

 ocre intell ectual attainmen ts, as poets generally 

 are. 



The question of the intellectual attain- 

 ments of poets may be left to the 

 editor of Harper's Monthly; we are 

 able to state definitely that the weight 

 of Byron's brain is unknown, as is 

 also true in the case of Turgenieff, 

 whose brain is given as the second 

 largest on Mr. Snyder's ' authorita- 

 tive ' list. In the same paragraph Mr. 

 Snyder says: 



Pirections for measuring the size of your own 

 brain, if you are interested, will be found in 

 any good encyclopedia, or would doubtless be 

 supplied by the distinguished Professor Wilder 

 of Cornell. 



Apart from such indications as are 

 given by the size of the hat, the only 

 feasible directions would be for the 

 interested person to commit suicide, 

 bequeathing his brain to Professor 

 Wilder's collection. 



It may seem unkind thus to criti- 

 cize Mr. Snyder's articles, but it is 

 unfair to the public for magazines, 

 such as Harper's, Scribner's, The Cen- 

 tury and McClure's, not to separate 

 their science from their fiction. — Edi- 

 tor.] 



