554 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



while as to all numerals between two and 

 ten the rule might apply thus : Shelesh, 

 three ; sheleshim, thirty ; and in like manner 

 to ten. With these corrections, referring 

 to the ages of the patriarchs before the 

 Noachian deluge, the article of M. De Sola- 

 ville would show a wonderful uniformity 

 in the age of man since the dawn of his- 

 tory. 



From Adam to the flood the ages would 

 read as in the table below, subject to a few 

 uncertainties in the numbers below one hun- 

 dred, as the numerals are sometimes plu- 

 ralized for purposes of agreement, when 

 they were not increased tenfold. These 

 cases are not always certain ; the table to 

 the flood is substantially true. 



The table is added, giving the ages of 

 each at the time of his death : 



Should the editors of " The Popular Sci- 

 ence Monthly " publish this note, it might 

 be the means of calling the attention of 

 the revisers of the Old Testament to the 

 examination of cases of apparent errors in 

 the reading of Hebrew numbers. The late 

 Dean Stanley, for years before his death, 

 insisted that the numbers in the Old Testa- 

 ment were, in many instances, entirely too 

 high. The correction of these apparent 

 errors, the Dean believed, would relieve the 

 Bible of many objections now urged against 

 this important record of ancient times. 

 Most truly yours, 



Charles S. Bryant. 

 St. Paul, Minnesota, October 28, 1881. 



THE COPYRIGHT OF IRYEWS WOF4KS. 

 Messrs. Editor's. 



The last issue of the " Monthly " con- 

 tain.'-', in an article by Mr. B. V. Abbott on 

 the " Progress of Copyright Law," a para- 

 graph in regard to the copyright on Irving's 

 works, which seems to us calculated to con- 

 vey an erroneous impression. 



Mr. Abbott, intending to paraphrase the 

 decision of the judge in our suit to restrain 

 the publication, under the title of "Irving's 

 Works," of a volume containing only a por- 

 tion of Irving's earlier and unrevised writ- 

 ings, says, " Now that any one may publish 

 Irving's works," etc. 



It is not the case that any one may at 

 present publish Irving's works. Bis latest 

 writings, including the crowning work of his 

 life, " The Life of Washington," and in- 

 cluding the only revised and authorized is- 

 sues of his earlier volumes, are still pro- 

 tected by copyright. 



The words of the judge had reference 

 simply to the material comprised in the 

 volume whose publication we sought to re- 

 strain. This contained only the earlier and 

 unrevised writings (in some cases reprinted 

 from their original issue as "magazine" 

 articles), which were no longer protected by 

 copyright. 



Our application was based on the ground 

 that it was an attempt to deceive the public 

 to offer for sale as Irving's works something 

 that was very different from the revised and 

 complete works as known and published for 

 many years, and that, so far as such volume, 

 under such misleading title, was sold, it was 

 an injury to the property of Irving's nieces, 

 who are the owners of his copyright. 



For the support of this claim, however, 

 the court decided that the legal grounds 

 were insufficient. Requesting the favor of 

 the publication of this explanation, we are 

 Yours respectfully, 

 G. P. Putnams Sons. 



New Yoee, January 9, lb?2. 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



THE PRACTICAL STUDY OF MIXD. 



THE progress of knowledge and in- 

 quiry is every day bringing into 

 clearer practical contrast the two meth- 

 ods of studying mind : that which re- 

 gards it as an abstraction, known only 

 in consciousness, or the metaphysical 

 method ; and that which regards it as 

 tin' endowment of an organic struct- 

 ure by which mental phenomena are de- 



termined, or the physiological method. 

 The former refuses to recognize the 

 corporeal substratum of mental effects 

 as essential to its inquiries ; the latter 

 holds it to be the foundation of mental 

 science. Both resort to introspection, 

 or the study of psychical processes in 

 consciousness, as a legitimate source of 

 knowledge ; but, while the metaphysi- 

 cian will go no further, the scientific 



