LITERARY NOTICES. 



849 



importance of teaching physics in the 

 public schools. 



The greatest interest was centered 

 in the Economic Section, where a full 

 day was given to the hearing and dis- 

 cussion of the two papers by Professor 

 Atwater, on "The Physiological and 

 Pecuniary Economy of Food," and 

 "The Food of Workingmen and its 

 Relation to the Work done " ; and 

 where, at other sessions, President 0. 

 M. Woodward, speaking from what had 

 been accomplished under his own su- 

 pervision, as well as with reference to 

 its practical bearing; and Professor 

 James, looking largely to the future 

 and to the economical side, presented 

 the advantages of manual training in 

 the public schools. 



In the Engineering and Mechanical 

 Section, Mr. Edison, by proxy, explained 

 his new pyro-magnetic dynamo, or ma- 

 chine for producing electricity directly 

 from fuel ; and Mr. P. H. Dudley de- 

 scribed his method for the mechanical 

 inspection of railroad-tracks, by which 

 the slightest flaw or unevenness is 

 detected at once and automatically 

 marked. Professor Ries's method of 

 securing the adhesion of locomotives 

 to railway tracks by the application of 

 electricity, and thus adding to their 

 tractive force without increasing their 

 weight, promises to be of value if it is 

 made practicable. 



A joint meeting of the Engineering 

 and Economical Sections was held for 

 the consideration of plans for inter- 

 oceanic communication, at which the 

 merits of the Nicaragua Canal scheme 

 were presented in full. A variety of 

 topics of interest were considered 

 m the Anthropological and Biological 

 Sections; and the transactions of the 

 Physical and Chemical Sections were of 

 interest chiefly to persons engaged in 

 those lines of research. 



The Association asked, by resolu- 

 tion, for a reduction of the tariff on 

 scientific books ; advised the provision, 

 by act of Congress, of a Bureau of 

 vol. xxxi. 54 



Standards of Measurement for Electric- 

 ity, Heat, Light, etc. ; requested the 

 President to appoint as permanent Su- 

 perintendent of the Geodetic Survey a 

 man of scientific attainments and trained 

 in that branch ; recommended the pub- 

 lication of an index to the publications 

 of the Signal Service; and appointed 

 two committees to secure measures for 

 the preservation of mounds and relics 

 of ethnological and archaeological inter- 

 est one, to consult with the national 

 authorities respecting relics situated on 

 public lands ; the other, with the pow- 

 ers of the States with reference to those 

 within their several territories. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



The Margin of Profits. By Edward 

 Atkinson. New York : Putnams. 1887. 

 Price, $1. 



This work consists of a lecture delivered 

 before the Central Labor Lyceum of Boston, 

 in May last, together with a reply made at 

 the time by Mr. E. M. Chamberlin, and Mr. 

 Atkinson's rejoinder. The object of the 

 lecture was to show that the capitalist is the 

 friend and not the enemy of the laborer, 

 whatever disagreement there may at times 

 be between them. Mr. Atkinson first draws 

 attention to the fact that the margin of 

 profit that is, the share of the capitalist in 

 the product of industry is by no means so 

 large as workingmen are apt to suppose. 

 To prove this, he cites the example of the 

 cotton industry, with which he is perfectly 

 familiar, and gives a statement of the entire 

 cost of production, from the raising of the 

 cotton to the completion of the cloth, show- 

 ing how much is paid out at each step of 

 the process for labor on the one hand and 

 for capital on the other. He illustrates his 

 analysis of the industry by a chart, and gives 

 the following as the result of the examina- 

 tion: 



" When you buy forty yards of cotton 

 cloth at two dollars and fifty cents, you pay 

 the owner of the mill fifteen cents profit, 

 but you also pay about fifteen cents more to 

 other people for profit that is, thirty cents 

 profit in all ; and you pay two dollars and 

 twenty cents directly for labor " (p. 28). 



